Enathar ushered the last few stragglers into the tower. "Is that everyone?"

Hinesh shook his head. "It's everyone we had time to grab."

"The timer is down to one minute!" someone shouted in a panicked voice.

Enathar shook his head. "It'll have to do. Help me with these."

Together they dragged the heavy doors closed, locking down the tower. Anxious murmurs filled the room from those refugees who were too afraid to climb higher.

The first floor of the tower was mostly open, with desks along the walls where System operators usually listened to complaints and suggestions. Currently, it was filled to the brim with about three hundred refugees. More piled into the stairway, trying to stay as close to the ground as they could.

There were two lines of thought among the civilians, it seemed: climb to the highest level to avoid any monsters that manage to break in, or stay on the first floor, so they could run if there was an attack from above.

Neither was likely to help. If the monsters were strong enough or numerous enough to trigger a System emergency, neither group would survive a breach.

"Where's the Administrator?" Enathar asked. "She should know what's going on."

"Last I heard she was on the eightieth floor," Hinesh said. "She—"

"Enathar!" Naomi shouted, pushing her way through the crowd.

Enathar ran forward, pulling his sister into an embrace. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Ashen."

"I ran here as soon as Yolan told me about the System message. What's going on? No one seems to have a clue what caused all of this."

Enathar shook his head. "You would have to ask Ronari. I've been too busy organizing all of this."

"The timer just hit zero!" someone shouted.

The noise in the room rose exponentially and Enathar could barely hear himself think.

"Quiet!" he shouted, amplifying his voice with a spell.

The room quieted immediately, wide eyed refugees staring at him with a mixture of fear and hope. They were all looking to him for guidance.

Enathar took a deep breath. "Panicking will only make the situation worse and if anything happens down here, I need the room empty so I have space to work. Take your things and follow Princess Naomi up to a higher floor. There are enough rooms for everyone. Food will be distributed as soon as we get organized."

Naomi shot him a defiant look. "I'm not leaving you down here without help. Who knows what monsters will come running out of the forest."

Naomi's words amplified the anxiety in the room and Enathar groaned inwardly. She was a decade younger than him, but she should know better than to speak so openly in front of already-panicking refugees.

"Relax," Hinesh said. "The monsters aren't getting in." He tapped a glass window with his fist. "Rune-enhanced to withstand a Level 400 Lankibeast. We just have to wait this thing out."

His nonchalant tone—coupled with his confident lie—helped to calm the room, though the effect was minor.

Some of the refugees looked relieved, others skeptical, but it was enough to get them to start gathering their things.

Enathar grabbed Naomi's shoulders lowering his voice. "I can't protect these people and lead them at the same time. Until I know more about the situation, I need you to keep them calm, okay. I'll come get you when I know it's safe."

Naomi looked conflicted, but she conceded him the point.

"If you get yourself killed down here, I'll never forgive you," Naomi said, hugging Enathar again.

"Everything is going to be fine," Enathar assured her. "Now go!"

He pushed Naomi toward the stairs, and she led the civilians to the upper floors.

Hinesh joined Enathar in the center of the now-empty room. "So… what's the likelihood of it actually holding?"

"Next to nil," Enathar said grimly. "But we might be fine, assuming the monsters are small swarming creatures and not—"

A high-pitched screech cut through the air. Enathar rushed to the window.

In the distance, he saw it: enormous black claws, glittering scales across its hide and a wingspan that stretched over a hundred feet.

There was an Elami on the loose.

"You were saying?" Hinesh asked, his voice no longer calm.

"It might not be coming here," Enathar said, unable to believe his own words.

A loud thud echoed from the other side of the room. Enathar spun around, his heart dropping.

An enormous muscular creature rammed its head into the glass.

It wasn't a monster that Enathar had encountered before. Its large, trunk-like legs shook the ground as it ran. Its head, long and wide, had the appearance of a shield with long curling horns jutting out in front of two massive ears.

Enathar tried to get a look at its name tag.

[?? — Level ???]

"That's not helpful," Hinesh commented, pulling his sword from his Soul Realm.

Another monster rammed the tower from the other side, shaking dust from the walls.

Enathar pulled out his largest sword, hoping it was sharp enough to break through the monsters' skin.

They stood back to back, preparing to face the two monsters—and whatever else came at them from the trees.

"Any chance I was right about the window?" Hinesh asked.

A spider web of cracks snaked across the glass.

"I wouldn't count on it," Enathar said.

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The glass shattered, admitting the creature's head. Enathar ran forward, slashing his blade across the monster's face, causing almost no damage. The energy coming off the beasts was enormous. They had to be at least Level 200. How, in goddess' name, did they gain power so quickly?

Enathar aimed for the monster's eye, his blade hitting its mark. The monster screamed, backing away from the broken window. Another took its place immediately.

"What the hell is going on?" Hinesh shouted, facing the monsters on the other side of the tower. "It should take years for them to get this powerful."

A third window broke, allowing another beast partial entry, but the walls held against its relentless attacks.

The Elami screeched again, this time much closer to the tower.

Enathar rammed his shoulder into the powerful monster, physically pushing it out the window. Pain nearly blinded him, and he cried out, backing away from the opening.

Smoke rose from his arm, the misshapen skin fused with his cloak. A distinct line marked the sections between the parts of his arm that had remained in the tower and those that were exposed to the air outside.

Horror rose in Enathar's throat. "The air is full of Miasma!"

He ignored the monster still trying to ram its way through the walls, dragging open his Menu.

500… 1000… 250… the safe areas were too small! They wouldn't hold all of the population of Ellis, let alone Ember. That level of Miasma would mean…

As Enathar watched, the populations dropped in other safe houses. Killed by Miasma or monster breaches, Lerians died by the millions.

And there was nothing Enathar could do to stop it.

"Retreat up the stairs!" Enathar shouted.

"But the monsters—" Hinesh began.

"Won't fit through the stairway. We need to block it off as best we can. Nothing gets in or out!"

They retreated up the stairs dropping every spell and trap in the hallway that they could. At each floor, Enathar urged the refugees to climb higher, pushing the population to the upper half of the tower. It wouldn't kill them to share rooms, and the more space there was between the refugees and the monsters, the better.

At the thirtieth floor, Enathar placed an Energy ward on the stairwell and walls. Hoping it would be enough to keep any Miasma from leaking through.

"What's going on?" one of the refugees asked, staring in horror at Enathar's arm.

"No one is to go lower than the thirtieth floor," Enathar declared. "Anyone skilled in wards, place them here. Physical traps as well."

"Your Highness," someone said in a small voice.

Enathar turned to the woman. She was lighter skinned, tears streaming down her face.

"I-I was in Ellis on a trading venture," she said. "My husband and daughter are still at home in Hilsha. Have you news of those places?"

Enathar didn't say anything and that was answer enough. The woman fell to the floor, sobbing into the arms of another light-skinned woman.

"They may yet be safe," the second woman said, softly stroking the sobbing woman's hair. "This is not the only safe area on Ember. Have faith that the goddess will protect them."

Enathar left the women to their grieving. He didn't have time to worry about those people outside the tower, he had nearly eight thousand people looking to him for protection. They would not lose the tower; not while he drew breath.

The tower was several hundred floors tall—a marvel of modern engineering that relied on magic to keep it standing. Enathar climbed to the eightieth floor, finding Ronari and several other System operators in the control room.

"Your Highness!" Eldar Kyne Cremble ushered him to a seat around a large table.

The room was lined with information crystals and rune boxes. Several of the operators were arguing next to one of the machines and a few were rearranging the crystals. Enathar was not versed enough in rune crafting to know what they were doing. That was Naomi's area of expertise.

Ronari, the System Administrator, sat in the chair opposite him, her eyes distant and her mouth moving as she muttered something under her breath.

"Is she all right?" Enathar asked in a low voice, trying not to break her concentration.

"She's overwhelmed by the amount of information coming to her at the moment," Cremble said. "That, or she is trying to counter the effects of the emergency. She's been unable to tell us what is happening."

"The people are drowning," a child said, staring out the window with a look of horror on her face. "Drowning in fire…"

"Silka," Cremble hissed. "Now is not the time."

Silka didn't respond, she just kept staring out the window.

"Why is there a child here?" Enathar asked. "She should be with the other refugees."

"She's my daughter," Cremble explained. "She's not—well, it doesn't really matter. Don't worry about her, she'll be fine."

"She looks like she's going to throw up," Hinesh remarked.

"I'm a seer," Silka said absently. "It comes with the territory."

She turned to look at Enathar, her horror turning to confusion. "You look wrong."

Enathar glanced at his arm. "Yes, well, there's a bit of an issue with the air outside right now."

Silka's eyes grew wide as she came to some realization. Her hair rose into the air, indicating that she was casting a powerful spell.

"Silka, no!" Cremble shouted, but it was too late.

Power burst outward from the child, climbing the walls, coating the area in a thick layer of Essence.

Silka slumped in her seat, tired but awake.

"You're too reckless, child!" Cremble admonished, grabbing her and bringing her away from the window. "What have you done this time?"

Silka yawned. "I just made a simple ward. It shouldn't have taken that much energy." She glanced at the window. "It won't hold forever, but it will keep the monsters out for now."

Enathar wasn't sure what to make of her. The child was barely in her twenties, her snow white hair cropped short, which was unusual for a Lerian. Cutting one's hair didn't affect their Essence pool in any way, but it was seen as a mark of shame or cowardice.

The hair had been glowing a light blue color a moment before but now it was flat and lifeless, meaning that this child had already learned how to tap into her Essence pool. Did she already have a core as well?

The Elami screeched again, but this time the sound was dulled by Silka's ward.

"He is quite unpleasant," Silka said with a look of displeasure.

Ronari sat bolt upright, gripping the sides of the table. "I can't see," she whispered.

Hinesh ran to her side, gripping her hand and closing his eyes. After a moment, he shook his head. "Nothing physically wrong. Are you in any pain?"

A tear rolled down Ronari's face. "I can't see anyone. Ellis, Gymar, Endoth; everything is black."

The room fell silent as they all grappled with her words.

Slowly, Enathar checked his Menu, his hands shaking.

The populations of every other safe area had dropped to zero. They were the only ones left.

Everyone was dead.

Wailing echoed up and down the tower as the other refugees realized what had happened. Several technicians in the room removed their hoods in respect for the fallen.

Enathar stared at the screen in disbelief.

Naomi is here... The thought stalled in his mind, trying to extrapolate into what he knew it must mean.

He couldn't let it. He didn't have time for it. He couldn't—

But, unbidden, the thought emerged fully into his mind.

Naomi is here, but mother and father aren't.

A sob caught in Enathar's throat. He choked it down, gripping the armrests of his chair to ground himself. He couldn't fall apart. They had to make it through this. If this tower was all that was left of the Lerian race, he had to make sure they survived.

They could mourn the dead when the crisis was over.

"What can we do?" he asked, his voice quiet.

Ronari looked up, her eyes haunted, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "Do?"

"How do we fix this?" Enathar said, his voice stronger. "How do we clear the air outside. There's Miasma strong enough to kill an Eldar out there. Until it's safe to go out, we can't even start to clear the monsters."

Ronari frowned. "Miasma? Right, yes, I remember. That's what the emergency was for. Miasma… cracks… crystal?"

"Crystal?" Hinesh repeated.

Ronari looked at him, latching onto his words. "Crystal. Yes."

"You're not making sense, Ronari," Cremble said gently. "I know it's hard to think through the System's influence sometimes, but you must draw away. If you keep going like this, the System will absorb you entirely."

Ronari shook her head. "I have to get it under control."

"We need you as Administrator," Cremble said, putting a hand on her arm. "Which means you have to get control of yourself first. Ground yourself in the present. Pick one thing, anything to focus on."

"I am focused," Ronari snapped, looking more alive than she had since Enathar walked in the room. "The world is burning, Kyne. I'm focused on what matters and that's putting out the fire."

She closed her eyes.

"Ronari, no!" Cremble shouted.

The woman collapsed onto the table, her body limp.

A low rumble echoed through the tower.

Enathar ran to the window. "What did she do?"

"I don't know," Cremble said, trying to revive the Administrator.

The rumbling grew closer, clawing its way up the tower.

Enathar's hand sizzled and he snatched it away from the window just as a wall of black crystal grew past, plunging the room into darkness.

Silka screamed, though Enathar wasn't sure if it was the darkness that had scared the child or another vision. Someone tripped over something, followed by a loud crash and a grunt of pain.

A mage light appeared above the table, large enough to illuminate the space. Technicians were scrambling around the room, arguing worriedly. Hinesh was holding a bump on his head.

Silka sat on the floor under the table, holding her ears. "Not again. Not again." She chanted, rocking back and forth.

Cremble held Ronari's hand, whispering something in her ear.

When the rumbling finally stopped, the noise in the room ceased as well. All eyes turned to Ronari.

"Is she…?" Hinesh asked, unable or unwilling to finish the question.

Cremble looked up and shook his head. "Whatever she did, she did it with the last of her strength. She's gone."

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