Soonyoung was bleeding. He could feel the warm viscous fluid pool down his left arm, soaking into his palm and falling between his fingers. He was bruised and battered, and any part of him that wasn’t dripping in blood was drenched in sweat and grime. Soonyoung pushed sweat soaked yellow locks from his face and inhaled sharply. The air was thick with smoke and dust, and the stench of burning flesh made his throat sting. He was exhausted, his head swimming from lack of clean oxygen and his muscles burned from exhaustion, but the magic flickering at his fingertips and gave him strength.

A wayward spell flew over his head and Soonyoung forced his tired limbs to move. He had just ducked behind the remains of a house when the magic collided with a building behind him. The structure gave a monstrous groan before it began to fall to pieces, collapsing from the inside out.

Within the building a figure came sprinting out a broken door, barely escaping the debris as it came crashing down around him. He nearly tumbled into Soonyoung, the two pushing themselves close to the rock wall to avoid the loose stones flying past them. His dark red hair was almost black from dirt and soot, but his dark eyes burned with fire. He shot a stern look at the older male, giving him a critical once over. “You alright?” He asked, no room for nonsense in his tone.

“Just a scratch, Minghao.” Soonyoung replied, but held out his arm obediently, knowing he would hear a mouthful if he didn’t. The red-haired magician didn’t pause, holding his hands out over the wound and letting tendrils of blue light magic seep into his skin. Soonyoung watched in fascination as the bleeding clotted off and the skin knit itself back over the open flesh.

Huffing from the exertion, Minghao grabbed a roll of bandages from his white medical bag and wrapped the wound with practiced ease. Soonyoung could see the sweat forming on his brow and he could tell the battle wasn’t going well if even their medics were exhausted.

“At least I’m alive, right?” He chuckled.

Minghao shot him a stern glare, though there was a speck of amusement in the corner of his scowl. “Barely,” he grunted.

Beginning to work the feeling back into his extremities, Soonyoung pulled a wooden arrow from the quiver on his back and knocked his brow. “Ready?” He asked and Minghao nodded, face as impassive as ever. Pausing to gather magic into his fingertips, Soonyoung poked his head over the remains of the wall and aimed. The arrow flew straight and true, alit with a glowing white energy, and the force broke through a dark magician’s barrier to impale him square in the chest. Beside him Minghao jumped to his feet and sprinted down the street under the cover of his fire.

“Soonyoung, cover me!”

Recognizing the voice, Soonyoung pulled two arrows from his quiver and knocked them, pulling back the string and letting them loose. The two arrows flew through the air and connected with the dark shadow of a barrier. The magic fractured like glass before shattering to pieces.

Four mortal swordsmen broke past the barrier, swords glinting in the sunlight. At the head was a black-haired magician who wielded a large broadsword. With a mighty yell, Jun lifted his sword and a green light exploded from the blade, throwing the enemies back. They cut down the first wave of soldiers, managing to hold their own against double their numbers, but were unable to push them back.

In an effort to help, Soonyoung shot one arrow after another, focusing his energy on the magicians that were dressed in flowing black robes that posed the most threat.

“There are too many of them!” A soldier screamed. And with a feeling of dread, Soonyoung realized he was right. They were outnumbered and with their small squadron, they were just barely holding their ground. There weren’t many dark magicians but their mortal soldiers had enough manpower to overpower them. Jun was leading the ground troops and was an excellent general, but they were separated into small groups and Jun’s barrier was the only thing protecting them from the magician’s magical attacks.

Soonyoung reached for another arrow but swore when his fingers touched only a single shaft. He didn’t know how long the battle had been going on but it had been too long.

He grabbed the last arrow from his quiver and leaned around his cover to shoot when an arrow came flying at him. It shattered against his barrier, the force tearing his bow from his fingers.

He winced in pain, scrambling for his weapons, but a sword cut dangerously close to his front, just barely missing his fingers.

Soonyoung rolled back, trying to escape the sudden attack from a swordsman. He jumped to his feet, reaching for his knife, but before he could defend another arrow hurtled toward him and struck him in his left side. He stumbled backwards, letting loose the magic in his hands out of reflex. It exploded from his fingers in a blinding flash of light and the soldier in front of him stumbled, burned from the explosion of heat. Another arrow disintegrated against his shaky recreated barrier.

He was losing magic fast and he knew it. Blood was dripping from his shoulder just as fast as the magic was leaving him. Soonyoung backed up into an open alleyway, hoping to get out of radius of the archer. The swordsman followed him, regaining his strength and bashing away at the barrier with newfound energy, emitting angry sparks in his wake.

“The enemy’s forces have breached the outer city!”

Soonyoung let loose another curse, wiping blood from his face. He grabbed the arrow in his shoulder before he broke it in half, yanking the tip out. He immediately pressed his hand against it, applying as much magic as he could spare to stop the blood from spilling out so he wouldn’t pass out. But it seemed like he had more important issues than his near death. They were already outnumbered, but if the enemy had backup they would surely be overcome.

Darkness had already started to close in on the edges of his vision and he could feel the magic dissipating through the wound like smoke.

Someone was shouting at them to retreat back to the magical barrier, but Soonyoung could barely hear over the screams of pain and the clashing of metal. Before he could react, his barrier was destroyed, the screen of light shattering into pieces, and the force sent Soonyoung crashing to the ground. The swordsman lifted his hands over his head to deliver the final blow.

But before he could perform the killing move, flames erupted from above Soonyoung’s head. He felt the hair on the back of his neck singe and a shadow of fear consume him. As black as night, the fire hit the man square in the chest, and even the man’s armor couldn’t stop the flames from up his skin and set him ablaze.

Magicians fire. Soonyoung could feel it in the air and in his lungs, but it wasn’t white like magic from the east, or blue or green like that from the north or south. It burned black as night, as dark as the west of the setting moon.

Soonyoung spun around, the movement jarring his shoulder and making him see stars. Striding down the alley was a large group of black robed magicians that emitted shadows that consumed everything where they walked. At the head stood a silver haired magician, face hidden in the darkness of his hood with a staff that transformed into a sword in his hands.

He lifted a pale hand and the swordsman’s fragile body broke under the pressure, the heat of the flames melting the flesh off his body. His screams were lost in the crackling of the flames.

A particularly harsh wind sent the smell of burning flesh into his nose and the hood fell off the magician’s head. Silver hair like twilight spilled around his young face, eyes as dark as night burning in his sockets. Their eyes met and Soonyoung felt a jolt of powerful magic grab him, drawing him into the darkness.

His head swam and the pain in his shoulder burned like fire. His last thought was a spark of recognition. It was the dark magicians. The enemy backup had arrived and they were here to kill him.

His vision went black just as flames as cold as ice and as black as shadows swelled around him and consumed everything.

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