It was one of those rare sunsets that take your breath away. A bright orange blush framed the jagged foreground of treetops and mountain peaks, drifting into a purply blue glow. The universe offered a fleeting moment of unbridled beauty on the worst day of her young life. Despite the circumstances, Iskvold took a moment to appreciate it and collect herself. Standing alone in the courtyard, her thoughts returned to the carefully arranged remains of her friends at her feet. As the frustration reemerged, pain registered in her brain. She looked down to find her hands tightly balled into fists, driving her fingernails into her palms. Tears silently dripped from her chin. We didn’t even have enough linens to cover them all.

  At the edge of her vision, two points of light bobbed towards her from the southwest. Watching their approach, she quickly made out the forms of Tsuta and Usha holding staves over their heads to light the path home. Only the two of them. This isn't good.

  “Hail Tsuta, where are the others?” She called out once they were within earshot as she stepped to the locked gate.

  “Hey Pinky,” came the reply. Deflated. Resigned. Though she had used the formal greeting that the current circumstances warranted, his response told her something else was on his mind. The whine of aged iron pierced the evening silence as she opened the lock and swung the gate back to let them inside.

  “Dead, and both other beacons destroyed. How bad is it here?” Tsuta asked her, and she could do no more than numbly tilt her head back over her right shoulder in response. As he raised his staff to increase the range of the magical light that burned from its tip, two rows of bodies in perfect lines stretched into view. Only half were covered with linen. But all had been positioned on their backs, arms crossed over the chest, seventeen in total. Tsuta exhaled audibly as his shoulders slumped. Both seeking and offering some consolation, Iskvold unconsciously leaned into the new arrivals. The three embraced silently for several moments before Usha began to weep quietly, her sobs muffled in Iskvold’s shoulder.

  “What about the attackers?” Tsuta asked as he pulled back. Iskvold extended a left thumb pointing behind her as she held the acolyte to her chest.

  Tsuta raised his staff again as he stepped past her, and a pile of charcoal grey limbs and torsos appeared out of the retreating darkness. With none of the care and consideration evident in the arrangement of their fallen comrades, it was difficult to tell where one of the creatures ended and the other began. Tsuta studied them intently as he circled the remains. Lifting one of the tails, he winced as the second creature’s head was fully exposed. Skin as black as midnight, jagged teeth, and a menacing horn – a nightmare made of flesh. Even death didn’t soften its savagery and intimidation.

  “Anyone know what they are?” he asked.

  “No idea,” she said. “We just call them hookheads; nothing else fits.” Usha straightened up and wiped the tears from her cheeks, trying to regain control of her breathing. Iskvold squeezed the dwarf’s arm reassuringly and reached past her to close and relock the gate.

  “We should debrief with Sifu. He will want to hear about the other Beacons”. She instinctively put her arm around Usha’s shoulder, guiding her back towards the abbey entrance. Tsuta dropped the tail, wiped his hands on the side of his leg, and followed them inside. The smell of burnt wood reached his nostrils as he crossed the threshold, lost in thought.

  “Almost everything was ruined by the fire, but we managed to tidy up the mess hall. We’re all squatting there for the moment.” Iskvold gave the cloakroom door a shove, and it groaned reluctantly on its hinges before granting them passage. Only two of the long tables still stood. The remains of the others were a charred pile of wood in the corner. A low fire flickered in the fireplace, providing the only light source, and the smell of sweat was carried on the warm air escaping into the cloakroom. With the door announcing their arrival, the occupants all turned to the newcomers. Sifu Haft was seated at the table facing them, with Nori to his left. Esmi, How, and Jin sat across from them. Though they all rose, only Sifu crossed the room towards them.

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  “Tsuta, very glad to see you! Where are the others?” Tsuta pursed his lips and shook his head. The older man retreated to the table as the others parted, allowing room for Tsuta, Usha, and Iskvold to sit.

  “Tell me everything.”

  Tsuta drew a deep breath and stared at the table’s pockmarked surface as he spoke. He recounted his evening’s activities at the other outposts in nearly identical detail - Beacons destroyed, shelters burned. He described his discovery of both pairs of duty monks hundreds of feet below the overlook, broken and almost unrecognizable.

  As he finished speaking, silence fell over the group for several moments until Tsuta raised his head and looked around at the long faces of his brothers and sisters.

  “Where’s Graver?” he asked.

  “I sent him to the Crystal Dawn and asked him to activate the Pact, though we may be on our own for a while – he had to go on foot.”

  Sifu continued, “What I don’t understand is how the hookheads got to the beacons and into the abbey without anyone noticing. They had to pass right by here to get to the outposts, or you would have seen them coming through one of the passes.”

  “I may be able to answer that,” Tsuta said. “There was one other thing I noticed…”

  Sifu Haft held the monk’s gaze and raised his eyebrows expectantly.

  “Well, out with it man! This is no time for dramatics!”

  “At the central outpost, I saw a large swarm of ladybugs at the back of the plateau, next to the beacon. Southern outpost – same thing.”

  He looked around at the faces of his friends, all showing expressions of confusion.

  “So? …I’m not following,” Iskvold blurted impatiently.

  “I've learned that magic attracts ladybugs. It's something in the residual energy, a side effect of the casting. It’s like they feed off the traces left behind.”

  “So, you believe that because you found ladybugs, magic was used to bring the hookheads to the outposts? That seems a little far-fetched. I mean, they live in these forests naturally.” Sifu was unconvinced.

  “That’s just it,” Tsuta continued. “One or two, sure, but the first time I noticed it, I had cast a light spell onto a staff tip – like I did tonight. Within ten minutes, almost twenty ladybugs had gathered directly where I cast the spell. They stayed for hours, writhing around in a frenzy.” He emphatically tapped his index finger on the tabletop. “Have you ever seen twenty in one place like that before?”

  The murmurs of denial around the table conveyed the group’s agreement, so Tsuta continued.

  “Magic attracts ladybugs. The stronger the spell, the more of them swarm to it. My most powerful spell brought fifty once. Tonight? At each outpost, I stopped counting at four hundred.”

  He left his conclusion hanging in the air, unspoken for several moments before Sifu Haft said it out loud.

  “You’re suggesting that not only was some kind of spell used to drop the hookheads on top of us, but it was very powerful magic at that?”

  “Exactly. Far more powerful than I’ve ever seen.”

  Sifu’s mustache twitched furiously as he silently considered the implications. The hiss and pop of burning wood from the mess hall’s fireplace droned in the background as they waited expectantly. Finally, he spoke.

  “I want to think on this.” Turning his head to address what remained of the abbey’s order, he raised his chin. “I want you all to know that I am extremely proud of how everyone responded today in the face of disaster. We lost everything except who we are.” His lips pressed into a tight line as he rose, knuckles whitening against the table’s edge. “As I look around this table, I see resilience, courage, and the determination to make tomorrow a little better than today. I also feel the resolve necessary to get to the bottom of what happened here and bring justice for our brothers and sisters.” The abbey’s master straightened to his full height, raising his head defiantly. “As my own Sifu once said – If you come for the Luminarium, you’d best not miss! Today, someone missed, and I intend to make them regret that.” A chorus of hands thumping the table’s wooden surface echoed around the empty mess hall.

  As the reverberations died away, he continued. “I’m afraid tomorrow will be another very long and difficult day. We must send off seventeen of our brothers and sisters, and we’ll also have to figure out how to retrieve four more from below the outposts. Lean on each other. Let our shared sorrow be our strength… Now, I know it’s not the most comfortable…” He gestured to his right. “…but I had Esmi and Jin drag the battle mat in from the dojo. I think it best if we all stay together in here tonight. Not to mention, it’s the only mat that survived the fire.” Sifu nodded at Tsuta and Usha. “Why don’t you two get something to eat? We’ve cobbled together some bread and soup in the kitchen, and I suggest we all try to get some rest.”