AN: Huge shout out to RoBlueKiran321 for helping me get through some writer's block with this chapter. I am not a writer who specializes in fight scenes so I think this chapter compromises nicely by giving you insight into the battle but also allowing me to write it.

Zayto walked into the room and Ryse stood up, "I held the platform for you. It is supposed to be my night. But you take it, I will find somewhere else."

"You take it, did everyone else find some place to bed down?" Zayto asked of Ryse.

"All except for Jael, he slept last night so they asked for anyone who slept in the last two nights to report and get all gear into functioning order." Ryse said still standing in front of the platform, "Are you sure that you want me to sleep. You are our leader and I want you to be the most comfortable."

"I am just a first year like you Ryse. you sleep and I will see you in the morning." Zayto nodded as he left the bunk with his kit. After a close examination of the neighboring bunks he found that that knights had already swarmed into all available ones.

He also found Colin and Pietre were in similar circumstances. Zayto nodded, "Let's go outside and look at the stars for tonight. We can sleep there."

Pietre nodded, "It will feel like camp again."

Colin looked at the two boys, "You mean commoner camp is a real thing? And they actually make you sleep outside?"

Zayto nodded, "Yes, it was one of the two required camps for people interested in joining the knights. Are you saying that bred knights don't go to camp?"

"Our whole life is a knight boot camp. But no we do not sleep outside or on the filthy ground. We are taught to use meditation to decrease our sleep needs to up to three weeks."

"Three weeks? Who are you and what kind of stimulants did they give you? Both of us have only ever made just shy of two weeks before we absolutely needed sleep and that was with meditation."

Pietre shook his head, "Two weeks, geesh you definitely have me beat. My record is ten days. But I sure couldn't do three weeks. I would be a walking corpse and not functional at all.

Colin looked at Pietre, "oh trust me I wasn't very functional either. I believe I could barely tie a simple knot in a rope by the time my father let me sleep."

"I am sorry that is so irresponsible to put your child through." Pietre scoffed as he spread the pad to his kit on the ground.

"I am beginning to realize that some of what my father did in the name of knighthood was very wrong. I am not the same person who came into these gates following in my brother's footsteps. If we win this war I want to take a stand for injustice the way Zayto has. I just don't know how I would go about it."

Zayto laid his hand on Colin's knee, "We will win this war. We can't think of If's or we will lose. You have already taken the right steps and We will be here to help you realize it when the war is over."

Pietre pointed out a constellation in the night sky, "Colin did you ever come out and stare at the sky before?"

Colin shook her head, "No but I know the names of the stars from my navigational class."

Zayto laughed, "Knowing their names in a book is one thing but seeing them in the sky is another. The stars look different based on the seasons and the position in the sky."

"Ok don't rub it in. your training was in some ways more tangible than mine." Colin stated as she rubbed her arms together, "It is freezing out here how are we supposed to get some sleep like this?"

Pietre laughed and re-positioned his pad, "Like this. Sit with your back to us and we will share heat with each other during the night."

Zayto linked arms with Colin and Pietre and leaned into them. Closing their eyes they allowed the peace to come over them.

When Zayto reopened his eyes the sun was climbing in the sky and he looked next to him to see Colin leaning her head on Pietre's shoulder. Furrowing his brow he sighed, one side effect of sleeping as they had had been that they had experienced each other's dreams. He had never realized just how many walls were up in Colin's mind but one thing he had grasped was that she was so alone. There was only one thing that she longed for and that was for someone to love and care for her.

Almost sensing that Zayto had left whatever shared void they had shared during the night, Colin lifted her head and blinked, "I have never had a sleep like that before. It was almost magical and I want it so much more."

Pietre rubbed his hand on his shoulder, "Did you drool on me Colin?"

"I might have and for that I am very sorry." Colin said as she stood up and collected her mat before reassembling her kit. "We should return to our bunks and find out what orders are in store for us today."

Walking into the south wing they were met by a frantic Uley and Ryse, "We searched the entire wing but couldn't find the three of you. Where did you go?"

Colin smiled, "We slept under the stars. It was something I had never done before."

Ryse nodded, "I am sure there will be nights of that ahead but it won't be peaceful. Did you link minds for warmth?"

Zayto nodded, "That we did. I take it that you are familiar with it?"

Ryse nodded, "I have two older brothers and though they didn't want to be knights they would often go with me as I trained just so I wouldn't be alone."

Uley nodded, "Back home during the harvests we wouldn't always make the trip back to the villages and would just link arms with whomever else needed to sleep while the harvest went on. It wasn't a part of training and it wasn't frowned on. It was a way of life."

"Ryse sighed, "I know what you mean. I did it with my brothers but there were some who thought that we did it at all was scandalous. I never quite understood why though."

Pietre shook his head, "There are some who think that by us linking our minds that we are committing to a relationship. But by the nature of a knight, I think it is needed from time to time and it isn't like we were completely naked doing it. I would draw a line to that."

Colin nodded, "that is a line I am not ready to cross. The blending of souls. But I agree what we did was innocent enough."

Zayto looked at Pietre and grinned as Colin walked away. They would never tell but they had both seen who she desired but knew if they said anything that she would shoot it back in their faces.

"Dreamer! You are stepping on my toes!" Colin yelled as Uley seemed to get under foot as he tried to race past Colin.

As they walked they saw the posting on the wall. it was official they were at war and there were signs strewn around to remind them that they were now in a code red. the signs reminded them that there would be no mail from the outside without first being censored and the same for the reverse.

Alarms rang through out the base and doors flung open as knights responded to the alarm. Dropping their kits they ran along side everyone else.

KNIGHTS

It was one large Cluster of chaos. Zayto leaned back and attempted to look Colin in the eyes she avoided him almost as if he had a plague. The first battle had been horrible. The first wave of Sporix had erupted from those almost innocent spore's that they were named after at a frightening rate.

One minute there were these masses rolling around in the street and the next they had been person sized beings of horrific shape. Their forms were crafted out of the shapes from the childhood horror stories that they had all been told about by older children. Some knights just fell in fear from the beasts approaching them.

Reports from other parts of the galaxy said that these Beasts could grow very large however these stayed the size of a man however very tough and hard to defeat. Their abilities varied and tactics that worked on one beast didn't work on another. The Specialists seemed to have the most effect as they were able to control a little bit of what had once been called magic in their more primitive days.

From just one battle the city was in shambles and key points in their cities defense grid were broken and possibly irreparable. Between the knights who were frozen in fear at these beasts and the knights that had fallen in battle they had lost almost a quarter of their entire strength. Many more were injured and in the medical center with unknown injuries. It would be hours before they knew who would be able to fight again and who would be sent out of the barracks to fend for themselves.

Zayto looked at Colin one more time and this time she was glaring at him. He would take a glare over her willfully ignoring him any day. He wanted no he needed to know that she was still willing to fight and that she was still in there. Uley had to reach and pin her arms to her side because at that moment she went to lunge for Zayto.

Zayto took advantage of the fact that Uley had thrown her off balance and dodged her attack, "Why are you angry with me?"

"She trusted you! You told her that you had a plan! She blindly followed you out into a fight that she wasn't equipped for. You should have taken me instead." Colin yelled with a growl of force in her voice.

"You weren't in position, I had no choice but to take Ryse with me. She is a better knight than you give her credit for." Zayto argued back with reason in his voice.

A weak voice came from nearby, "You would think I died out there the way you two are arguing."

Zayto and Colin looked to see Ryse standing there her uniform still ripped and covered in her own blood. She looked pale and weak but was standing on her own. Which considering the casualties they had experienced was a landmark statement. For a fraction of a second Zayto almost seemed to see a light pink glow from around Ryse but when he blinked it was gone.

Pietre jumped up and hugged the girl, "Your going to be ok then?"

Ryse nodded, "Yes surprisingly I will be alright. They said if the cut was even a micron to the side it would have been fatal but it fell entirely into bone and didn't nick any of my arteries." Ryse paused, "Please your hurting me, Pietre, While they healed me they are stretched too thin to do a full healing. I am able to return to fight which is all they are able to do at this point."

Uley stood up and growled, "They heal you enough to fight so that you can be canon fodder! That is all they are doing! They don't care about us."

Colin shook her head, "They have so many injured and only so many resources. They are doing the best that they can. The rest will be up to us to protect her while she finishes healing. That is why Knights fight in units and not alone."

"We have to be stronger then and we need to be there for each other." Zayto nodded as he looked at his team, "We were lucky out there today. The beast's tactics are spontaneous and vary from one to another. This is unlike any other battle simulation that we have been in.

Pietre nodded in agreement, "All training simulations assume that an invading army will all fight with the same tactic. So in a way each beast we encounter should be thought of each as their own invasion force."

The alarms sounded again and Uley grabbed his helmet as did the rest of their small group.

Zayto put his hand on Ryse's shoulder, "Stay here you are still wounded come out with the relief teams to bring the wounded back in after. There are others who will stay behind to reload the armaments."

Ryse nodded but took her helmet regardless and parted ways from her friends. Colin looked at Zayto as she shook her head, "We need her out there. You said it yourself that she is a strong knight."

"And we have to protect her! Her creative side could give us an edge if she is allowed just a bit of time to come up with another plan." Zayto argued back, "You said you trusted me right?"

"Stop it you two! We are all just first years fighting a war that our world hasn't seen in centuries. If we have ever seen anything like this at all." Pietre shook his head, "Now come on!"

KNIGHTS

Zayto looked at the sky it glowed orange. six months since they had gone to war. The Sporix were fully present on Rafcon now and it seemed like a daily occurrence that they went out to fight the strange beasts that exploded out of the bumpy space faring pods. the city was in ruins. and fire rained from the sky as their aerial ships attempted to stop the beasts from the sky. it had been three months since he had seen Colin.

As the war had gotten more intense and the Sporix seemed to spread all knights were split up and divided into camps around the planet. The first wave had landed mostly in and around the city which was Rafcon's strong point. But after the city had fallen they started popping up all over the planet which necessitated the troops to be split up.

On a good day he saw Ryse as she hauled some poor unfortunate person back to the barracks almost a year ago he had been naive to what being a knight was really about. He had been preparing to take his final test which told him if he would become one or not.

He knew that Ryse and Pietre were assigned together with the artillery and recovery unit while from the last time he had seen the troop movements he had found that Uley and Colin seemed to working on the same front. While he was working on the front line within the city. The Sporix were formidable creatures and they didn't stop until their goal was complete. it took all they could do to just slow a Sporix's progress let alone stopping it. they had lost many good knights and Zayto had watched the death counts rise. Both civilian and Knight alike there were casualties on both sides. while hard numbers were not publicized one could only guess as the piles of bodies continued to grow.

Finally on the one year anniversary of the his entering the barracks they got words that the Sporix seemed to be consolidating their attack. they had swept through the less populated areas like locusts descending on a crop. the cities were filling up with people from the country side and the villages trying to take refuge in the bombed out buildings where the defenses were the strongest.

Zayto heard crying behind him and he ran towards the sound and moved some rubble to find two small children. grabbing them he shielded their eyes as a Sporix rampaged the building that they had been hiding in. taking them back to the Barracks he sat them down in a room where other children had found safety while they were separated from their parents. taking their names down he attached tags to their shirts to help identify them if someone came to claim them. looking at the clothes they wore he knew that they were bred knights but in this instance they were just scared children. still to young to defend themselves or even know how to fight. his heart sank if he wondered if they could be related to Colin at all.

At the thought of Colin Zayto sucked in a deep breath to return to the streets ready to defend his honor and his life. "Hey Commoner!"

Zayto spun around, "Colin!"

"The Sporix's numbers seem to be changing. they are consolidating into smaller units and focusing just on the city." Colin announced as she wrapped her arms around her first real friend.

"Colin!" Zayto responded taking that moment to just hold onto her

Uley came running up to them as well, "She wasted no time in trying to find you. we only just got off the transport. it isn't good out there Zayto."

"It's not good here either Uley. We have lost over 90 percent of the city and the people alive are a mishmash of people from all over. no one has a roof over them that they can call home. Orphans are living here in the barracks."

Pietre and Ryse joined them as they stared before the sky that as Zayto had been told before would glow orange with fire raining from the sky as demons rampaged and took all that they had.

Holding his sword out he looked to his four tired comrades who were finally reunited after six months, "One last time" He raised his sword up and they all laid their hands on the hilt, "For Rafcon!"

Charging from the building they attacked a Sporix beast head on. Their second wind seemed to inspire those around them to fight harder and stronger but the Sporix just seemed to match everything that they threw at them.

Finally after a long fight in which many more lost their lives the Sporix seemed to almost disappear in front of their eyes. One minute they were slashing and fighting and then the next they were back in their spore like form floating back up to the sky.

Colin held her arm attempting to hide the bleeding from a slash mark on her arm but failing miserably, "Wait what just happened?"

Pietre limped over to the group and looked around, "The City what was left of it is completely gone. The last few buildings including the barracks are gone."

Uley and Ryse came over leaning on each other coughing, "There is only rubble as far as the eye can see."

Zayto collapsed feeling the pain catch up to him. He realized he had been fighting on adrenaline for quite some time. Colin released her hand and grabbed him, "Let's get you and any other injured back to what used to be the barracks. I don't want to believe that the Sporix are gone and we shouldn't pretend that they are either. For all we know this is just another strategic retreat. We have seen them do it before."

Ryse shook her head, "What is the phrase that Zayto has always told us?"

Looking up weakly from Colin's arm, "The sky burns orange, fire rains down from the sky, demons take all. Battles rage day and night."

Pietre shook his head, "Well that has definitely happened. The sky has to be a permanent shade of orange now from all the fires burning and we definitely did have fire rains and those demons they have taken it all from us in battles that raged day and night.

Colin lifted Zayto's armor, "As much as I want to keep talking we need to get Zayto back to whatever we are using as a base camp. He has shrapnel in his back and if not treated could be life threatening."

Pietre nodded, "Colin your one to talk you do realize that you are gushing blood all over Zayto right?"

"It's not a major artery I will live. Let's get out of here in case they come back." Colin sighed as they made their way back to where the barracks once stood.

Finding only rubble and soldiers sorting through for orphans that may have survived Ryse crawled through and found a healing device, "My months working with the recovery team I learned how to use this pretty effectively. I have enough juice to heal one of you but Uley or Pietre if you can find me a case with more I should be able to heal all of you."

Zayto looked at Ryse, "Get Colin she is just bleeding but she is getting her blood all over me."

Colin shook her head, "Zayto needs it more, If I can lay him down I should be able to tie this off."

Ryse looked at Zayto and ran for Colin, "YOur the easier fix right now Colin. Zayto's injury is complex but he seems stable and I will need more juice for this thing to go for one hundred percent. If I heal you you can help the guys find more supplies."

Reluctantly Colin held out her arm and allowed Ryse to heal her before going into the rubble to find more healing devices and serum to complete the healing process.

Slowly but surely people came together and piled what they had and people with healing knowledge began to heal those that they were able to. They were a ragtag bunch of people from all walks of life. From a proud rank of tens of thousands of knights there were only a few hundred left at best and not many more civilians it seemed although it would take days to get a true census as they could only recover a handful of people at a time. Many would die in the ruble and while they weren't happy about it they had to be ok with it because they had little choice in the matter.