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I didn’t see Eric or Collin Neither was dead on the floor They were both gone I walked to the end of the row, and crouched to es And the sight on the other side stripped every sense of right and wrong fro Shock sucked the breath froazed in disbelief For a second I didn’t realize I’d stopped breathing until I sucked a gasp of air I was outside and the front of the church was gone—ripped off and hoisted away Rubble scattered across the remains of the front lawn that was now pitted with holes and dirty snow The winter wind bit azed in horror

Destruction was as far as I could see Locoicia’s wordsto me until I saith ly church that had stood in the center of a nice little neighborhood, was gone The houses were gone The streets were torn to shreds Asphalt was cracked into pebbles that scattered through the snow Wind bit into —unaware of the horror that stolethat reed The beautiful houses that lined the street stood in piles of burning rubble Streams of s upward The sky was a color I’d never seen before The entire thing was streaked in shades of scarlet It was as if God hi the sky

As far as I could see, everything was the sa wood under a bleeding sky Plumes of smoke choked the snow out of the air My feet faltered, as I staggered back, not believing what my eyes saw Blackened bodies, twisted into defor red eyes moved in the distance De farther and farther away from me They marched onward to destroy the homes and families that lay beyond the horizon There was no fore The de as a unit, but it didn’t look like any for them

I turned slowly, al a few yards away “Eric” I breathed his name as if it were my last breath His hands were at his sides, covered in blood and black soot His shirt clung onto his chest by a few threads His brimstone blade was in his hand He watcheda short distance away “Eric,” I breathed again “Eric, what happened?”

He glared at me Hatred wasn’t hidden in his eyes; it was front and center, burning like wild fire He reached formy collarbone under his hands I didn’t screaistered somewhere in the back of h away so he couldn’t grab an to mend itself

Eric’s face was covered in sweat despite the snow He breathed, flaring his nostrils, his shoulders tensed and his arht “You,” he spat “You did this Where have you been?” he yelled “I held him off and you disappeared”

My eyes flicked to the destroyed landscape and back to Eric’s face, “I wasn’t gone that long, and… ”

He rushed at rabbed ether His body shook as he stared atYou left And now you cohed, and threw round forcing the air out of an to walk away into the burning sun that was setting in front of him

I shot up, and he turned with speed that I didn’t expect “I had no choice How much time has passed?”

There wasn’t a speck of gold in his eyes, “Five weeks It’s been five weeks since you leftThere’s nothing left The deaze raked ht… ”

“You thought what?”so much smoke The wind shifted and ere lost inside a cloud of burning rubble I coughed, unable to see hione for seconds, seconds! When I ca left” I paused “I thought you found the ht that you… ”

His fingers wrapped aroundinto ht what?” he hissed through the sht I found where the Satan’s Stone is?” He shookNothing None of that one” The cloud of s words in rapid succession

So into e… ” I asked, looking into his face “It was for nothing? You don’t knohere the stone is?”

His grip dug in tighter before he released o while your world bled to death? Every Valefar was forced to slay anything that breathed, while they searched for you Collin was in the first wave to show up Since then there has been nothing but attacks Your screwed up blood sparedforced to battle with the Valefar I have their mark on my face, but I killed the you’d coh Eric’s gaze searched overto my face