Mara, the lord of the Senses, arrived through a tear in space. It floated above near the clouds, watching and analysing the area below it. All four bodies watched a separate part of the city.

  It was sent out to destroy all of mankind’s settlements, to make sure there was no resistance to be met against the eventual fate of earth. But when it looked down upon the ruined Los Angeles, there were no humans to be found. No settlement, no hint of a fight from the survivors.

  Had it already been destroyed? Mara almost turned back, stopped the Imperials from bringing his Daughters through. But then Mara looked deeper, and he found them hiding like mice underneath the floorboards.

  The humans, all of them, were underneath the earth, festering just beneath the surface of the planet. It was a clever ploy, to hide from him underground, but it would’ve mattered not. He could’ve left them down there to be swallowed up once the earth was destroyed, but Mara had been given a mission.

  “Bring them through. All of them.”

  Several building sized portals opened up at the edge of the city. Thousands of Mara’s daughters walked out, starting with his eldest and most powerful. As soon as the portals reached their peak, projectiles exploded onto the scene.

  They came from every part of the city. Missiles, bolts and tonnes of stone that flung in Mara’s direction. The Lord of the Senses was too powerful, too quick to get hit by them. but his Daughters were different, and they fell to the magical attacks.

  Mara didn’t understand how the humans could resist their desires even after ten years. The world had been ruined. There was nothing they could do to bring it back from the brink now.

  Why fight and struggle, when they could simply give into their pleasures, their death, instead?

  Mara floated away from another chunk of the rubble, and went down to the ground. Wielders were bursting forth from passages built into the ground, from apartment complexes and restaurant doors as if they’d been waiting in hiding.

  They used whatever powers they had to cut down Mara’s hordes of Daughters, enraging him. There was something different about this set of Wielders though. They had goggles and plugs in their ears, and they never looked directly at Mara’s Daughters when they attacked.

  They knew.

  Mara Klesa landed in front of a group of them. Immediately, the Wielders turned on each other, shouting at their fellow man as if he were a monster. And they would be, because Mara Klesa was the body of his which excelled at it most.

  Mara Mrtyu stopped the Wielders’ assault on his Daughters while Mara Skandha took their Seeds and snatched them away.

  Finally, there was Devaputra. It sent the Wielders into a coma, before they were squashed to death by his Daughters. Some survived, the strongest among them no doubt, but they were forced to leave their dying comrades behind.

  All four of his bodies worked in tandem with each other, while holding off their assaults. Mara’s Daughters advanced forward at the opening slowly, as more Wielders were coming up to face the tide.

  It would be a long day for the Lord of the Senses, and the battle ahead would not be won easily.

  ****

  Lillie placed a barrier around the entire street. The Daughters of Mara were trapped within and they beat against the light wall to get out. Before they could. Loki sent a slash that downed two buildings and buried the Daughters within.

  The two of them were frantically covering the streets, trying to survive against the Vices as best as they could. Loki was quiet as usual, but even then Lillie could see the man panicking beneath his cool fa?ade.

  “Where to next?” Loki asked him.

  She was the navigator. He was the sword. They just needed to make it through the day with both of those and they’d be fine.

  “Next street over, another group of Vices are trying to pass through,” Lillie told him.

  She let him carry her over in a single leap. When they landed, they didn’t find Daughters waiting for them.

  Instead, it was a gathering of Imperials. Tall and lanky, blue skinned with ears like knives, they wore armour that gleamed with gems. When Loki landed in front of them, they activated their magic.

  One of the Imperials tried to sink them into the earth. Lillie jumped up and landed on a light platform. She made steps for Loki and he cut down the Imperials in front of him. When the Earth Seed Wielding Imperial tried to use his magic, Loki cut his fingers off. He jumped backwards but hit a light barrier instead.

  Then Loki impaled him through the chest and the Imperial fell to the ground. He coughed up blood and spat at Loki.

  “This isn’t over. You can’t stop all of us!” the Imperial said before going limp.

  Loki wiped the blood off of his face and looked towards Lillie.

  “What are they doing here? This road does not lead to the settlements, only the centre of the city,” Loki told her.

  Lillie had no idea, but she formed constructs of light to search the Imperials. She recognized some of the Seeds they had and had a bad feeling of their goals.

  “V-victor told me about this one. It’s really hard to do so, but it can open Gates,” Lillie told him.

  “I’ve never seen a Seed like that?” Loki said.

  “It’s rare too. That must be why,” she said, walking past the other Wielder.

  “We need to take down any other Imperials we can find. They might be trying to make a new Gate!” Lillie told him. all the rest had been slowly closed down by Wielders that they’d worked hard to foster. But that also had meant they had a hard time getting information from the other side as well.

  “If they had an army, why not bring it through with the Daughters?” Loki asked.

  “Because those portals can’t last forever. The Gates can,” Lillie answered fearfully.

  Near the edge of the city, they could see explosions going up. But no sign of Victor. It was infuriating for Lillie that Victor wasn’t there yet, considering his abilities. But she couldn’t find it in herself to hate him too much.

  After all, he’d turned himself into a monster for their sake.

  “Where is the next squad of Imperials?” Loki asked, his blade ready. Lillie nodded and started searching.

  ****

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  When the portals started to close, Ashley thought they’d only have to deal with the Daughters. Those she could pick apar with her flames. But the last thing to come out of them wasn’t a Daughter. It was a Vintaric.

  A Vintaric as tall as a two-story building, like a Godzilla-sized beetle. It had scars and scratches all over its skin, but that didn’t seem to deter it. As soon as it exited the portal and landed on the desert dirt, it took to the air. It had sacs under its wings, glowing bright red that jumped around its body when it moved.

  “Hive Wetajha. Couldn’t have been anything else, could it?” Leo said with a sigh. Ash’s brother had grown less and less expressive over the years, a far cry from the wannabe actor she had once known.

  It hurt her to see him like this, but there was nothing she could do. She’d tried to make a theatre work in Angel Heights, but Leo’s heart wasn’t in it. In his spare time, he had instead become one of the strongest Wielders they had.

  With a swipe of his hand, he turned the earth to a jelly and forced the Daughters underneath. They suffocated there, leaving the path open to the Wetajha Vintaric. Then a hand made of earth rose from the streets, dragging stop signs and the sidewalk along with it. The hand reached into the sky and pulled the Wetajha out of the sky.

  A small flame burned in Ashley’s hands. She struggled to contain it, feeding it with her Seed and her heart both. Her emotions came bursting forth to power the flame, and she set the street alight with flames.

  They scorched every surface before hitting the Vintaric. The blue flames turned red, before a blast of wind smothered them. Ash’s jacket billowed in the wind, and she had to take another look at the Wetajha standing there.

  The Vintaric was unharmed. Some of the sacs on its body were drained but otherwise it was fine.

  “This thing’s not just a Vintaric,” Leo whispered to her.

  “Strong for Wielders. That’s going to make this harder,” the Wetajha said out loud. It didn’t even roll its Rs when it spoke.

  Blood exploded from the sacs on its back and flew towards Ashley and Leo. Ashley burnt away some of the projectiles, but it wasn’t enough. The blood slashed through her side like it was a knife, before forming into a spike on that ground.

  She had to tilt to avoid landing on it, and then Leo carried her away on a floating wave of earth.

  “Bloody Tear? Or some other strong Blood Seed?” Leo asked.

  “I don’t know!” Ash said, holding her bleeding side. The wound closed up quickly, thanks to her mastery of her Seeds.

  Then Ash struck again at the Vintaric. Her anger fuelled the fireball that raked across towards the Wetajha Vintaric. But then a single stream of blood pierced through the centre, and exploded the fireball from within.

  “You’ve got potential, kid, but you’re a mess when it comes to tactics,” the Wetajha taunted her.

  Another spike of blood came from the earth and stabbed Ashley through the hand. She burned it away and Leo fortified the stone barrier in front of him. he took a handful of rubies and crushed them into dust.

  It reinforced the crumbling barrier, leaving the both of them time to strategize.

  “He’s stronger than any other Wetajha Vintaric we’ve met,” Leo told Ash.

  “If he’d just get down from the sky! We could bury him!”

  “We’ll have to burn his wings off for that. It’d be easier with Loki, but he’s with Lillie,” Leo told her.

  “What about the Recon Shell?” Ash asked.

  “Already tried it. Lillie said they had to stop a Gate from forming. We’re on our own for this one. None of the other Wielders would last a second,” Leo told her.

  Ash grunted. The barrier was breaking apart. The two of them jumped on opposite sides of the street. If they couldn’t take down the Wetajha head on, they’d have to circle around instead.

  ****

  Loki and Lillie took out another group of Imperials. But they’re Gate maker disappeared before Loki could get the killing blow. Portals dragged that Imperial all over the city, while the other Imperials stalled him.

  Lillie saved him with her portals, but he still took hits now and again. Burns and cuts along his body, all the while Daughters of Mara vied for their attention and muddled their minds.

  “Where to next!” Loki shouted for her. He was growing aggravated by the assault, heaving as he wiped the Imperial blood from his sword.

  Lillie wasn’t sure he could keep going further. The skies were turning an ominous shade of red, and lightning crackled among clouds. At first, she’d though it Victor, but it seemed the world itself was being torn asunder by their fight.

  “Loki, we’re going to lose if we keep this up!” Lillie told him.

  “So? Do we give up instead?” Loki shouted accusingly.

  “No! We just need a better plan!” Lillie shouted back.

  “Like what?”

  “Well… They’ll need time to open the Gate, won’t they?” Lillie asked.

  Loki sighed, and the two of them split apart.

  Lillie had the harder job between them. Loki just had to gather up some Wielders. When he came to the front of the battlefield, he balked.

  They were losing. Despite their preparation, Mara was raging through the battlefield and dismantling their forces. He was far away now, but it wouldn’t be long once the Vice took aim at him.

  What staggered him most was the sight of the creature. It had his father’s face somehow. The sight incited more anger in the quiet Wielder.

  Even from here, he could see the four bodies of the monster working their magic. His Seeds wanted to leave his body or struggled to activate. Loki beheaded a Greater Raga and then turned towards this group of Wielders.

  Most of them were scrambling for their Seeds.

  “Which one of you can close a Gate!” Loki asked them all at once. Victor or Jeffords would know who and where each one was posted, but Loki didn’t have the luxury.

  He was just a simple and blunt instrument.

  Slowly, one of the Wielders among them raised their hands. She was a woman of forty, hair frizzy and with bags under her eyes when she lowered her goggles.

  “You will do. Come along with me. As well as some of the front-liners,” Loki shouted.

  He didn’t have the time to pick, so he just took the strongest. Loki ran over the rooftops and streets carrying the Gate closer on his back. He thought it would be a quick trip, but a Wetajha Vintaric appeared out of nowhere and destroyed his next landing spot.

  Loki landed in a roll in the rubble. Looking up, he could see the beetle Vintaric looking away from him. Opposed to him were the Butcher siblings. Ashley was assaulting him with fire from one side while Leo tried to drag him down with the earth. And neither was succeeding. More blood flew from the Vintaric’s sacs and crashed through buildings and Wielders alike to destroy them.

  Leo went flying while his sister screamed.

  “Take this Shell. Call up Lillie, go where she is,” Loki ordered her.

  The other Wielders he’d brought backed her up, leaving Loki only the Vintaric. He was a blunt weapon, and he much preferred this task to the other.

  ****

  Mara was growing tired of the fight. There was nothing the Wielders could do to trap him. they didn’t know his powers well enough, only those of his Daughters. He was making openings for those same Daughters, letting his disgusting horde run through the streets unabated.

  One group of Wielders were retreating backwards. Mara followed with one of his bodies. They weren’t enough of a threat to allocate all of them.

  When he floated towards them on the streets, the Wielders didn’t scream. Mara Skandha was about to separate their Seeds but something slammed into his body. It was a blade with a chain attached to it.

  Several more came out of the building windows to stab Mara Skandha. Though his body was stronger than most, the blades did not care. They glowed with a green energy that seemed to sap Skandha of his strength.

  “Now, fire into the Vice!” a voice screamed from above. Skandha glanced disinterestedly at the figure, an old man in a lab coat standing on the roof of an office building.

  Snakes coiled up the chains and bit into Skandha, draining his strength further. His vision began to distort ever so slightly as more Seeds took effect.

  All those failed when the other bodies arrived. Skandha’s chains snapped and Wielders started to rip each other apart. He hadn’t even needed to raise a finger. All the while, the scientist at their helm tried to get the situation under control.

  Once the forces were slaughtered, Mara Skandha met the scientist head on. He looked terrified, his wiry brown hair messing up as the scientist looked for an escape.

  “You thought you could trap me with any combination of Seeds?” Skandha asked. He would sound different to all those who heard him.

  He grabbed the scientist by the throat and lifted him up. Anything he tried was useless against Mara.

  “It was stupid to even try. There are so many things you could’ve enjoyed had you not been wasting away trying to find a way to fight us. To kill us. You could’ve lived what life you had in pleasure, before it all came to an end,” Skandha told him.

  “This is my pleasure. I love this. There’s a whole avenue of science left unexplored, because you Vices refuse to let us live in peace!” the scientist coughed out.

  “Truly? This is what you enjoy? Well, I hope you had your fill, Mr…” Skandha looked down at the name tag, “Cooper.”

  Then he snapped the man’s neck. He threw the body aside with a carless flick of his wrists and started to walk towards the ledge.

  A howl pierced through the sounds of war. So strong that it shattered glass and shook the foundations of the city. It even got the attention of the Lord of the Senses, who looked behind itself.

  A building broke under the weight of something firing into the skies. That same figure became nothing more than a speck before crashing down onto Skandha faster than humanely possible.

  It was a humanoid, but so warped that Mara couldn’t tell whether it was Vice or human. Large, muscular arms were covered in fur and energy of a thousand varieties. Lightning arced around its body and fire spread across the creature’s back. Ice tipped its claws while a large snout sniffed at him. And large glowing balls of amber stared at him in hate.

  when Mara Skandha looked at the creature, it scoffed in confusion.

  “What are you?”