After their meeting, Lavitz showed Dart and Shana around the town, fulfilling Kaiser's request to bolster the troops while he did so. The wall ran the perimeter of the city, and Lavitz explained that Hoax used to be open and inviting, a happy stop on the way to the southern city of Lohan. Now, the demeanor had changed and become something dark and sinister. It felt as though the people were waiting to be swallowed by evil, and Dart wondered if they understood the extent of the threat that lay in wait beyond the walls.

Several homes in a line had been fashioned into a sort of barracks, and an hour later, Dart and Lavitz had left Shana in her new quarters and settled into their own. With so many others stuffed into the small room, they refrained from any deeper conversations, and Lavitz became a source of entertainment for the other soldiers. Thanks to his boisterous morale-boosting songs, nobody was asleep until after midnight.

The next day, Kaiser showed them to the positions that they would take up at nightfall – Dart and Lavitz by the front gate and Shana within city hall – and encouraged them to rest that afternoon as they would likely be up most of the night. This warning they heeded and welcomed, all taking naps after lunch and awaking refreshed and ready that afternoon.

As night fell and the time came for soldiers to swap shifts, Dart, Lavitz, and Shana gathered in the town square.

"Take care of yourself, Shana," said Lavitz somberly as he embraced her.

"And you," she replied before moving toward Dart. He hesitated, and she reached her hand out. For a moment, he considered shaking it. But then he looked into her fearful eyes, and before he understood what was happening, he was hugging her. At her touch, the realization of their situation sank into him, and he only squeezed her tighter. "Be careful," she whispered.

He drew back and peered at her. Her brow was furrowed with worry, and she cast a nervous glance toward the gate.

"If anything happens…" began Dart.

"We'll be the first line of defense," said Lavitz. "And Shana will be the last."

"I don't think that makes me feel any better," muttered Shana.

"Me, either," mumbled Dart.

"Listen," said the knight. "I know how this feels. Trust me. But we can't focus on worst-case scenarios. The thing that gets you through a battle is believing that the best-case scenario can and will happen. Sandora might not make any moves tonight. And if they do, there might not be a dragon that we have to deal with. Focus on the positive. We're here together." He reached out and took both their hands and stared at Dart until he took Shana's. "I don't know about you, but that gives me a lot of hope and a lot of confidence. No matter what, we're here together. The First Knighthood." He offered a smile.

Dart nodded and looked at Shana. Then he smiled and squeezed her hand. "Together," he whispered.

"We should be able to see each other, too, if a battle breaks out," added Lavitz.

After a deep breath, Dart said, "Let's get to our stations, I suppose."

They told Shana goodbye once more, and then they turned and went their separate ways. Dart and Lavitz moved over toward the eastern gate, where they replaced two soldiers who seemed exhausted and headed immediately for the barracks. After closing the gate behind them, they sat.

Outside the city, the world became muted and distant. As they looked across the landscape, they could see the road that had led them here, and a vast expanse of forest to the south, expanding as far as they could see. Far to the east, the snowcapped Serdian Mountains flashed out at them like signal pyres, and their ears were greeted with a chorus of chirping crickets and hooting owls.

As they settled in, the unease of their conversation with Shana slowly slipped from Dart's mind, replaced with the kindness of nature that Dart had come to love. He found his mind wandering amid the hills of eastern Serdio and the wilds of the far east, and he began to remember his childhood with Shana. He'd met her soon after she was born, although the memory was now faded and bleary. It seemed that it had happened only a few months after his arrival in Seles, and as he tried to remember that day, he could find little more than a great veil of sadness.

He leaned his head back and gazed up at the stars. He thought it a shame that he couldn't remember any constellations that had been visible from his home, and he began to wonder just how far away Neet was.

As he began to think back, he tried to remember any details of his travel between Neet and Seles. After eighteen years, the images were sparse and vague, hidden behind the distance of time. He recalled being on a boat, leaning out over the lapping ocean and being scolded for standing too close to the edge. Another memory of a forest came to mind, and tossing and turning on a bed that had been laid on sand. The sand had gotten between his toes and in his hair. But that was all he could remember.

With a sigh, his mind drifted to his first memory of Seles, where he'd cried himself to sleep while clutching his father's memento. The moons had been out that night, too, streaming through his window and lighting his face. Reaching up, he pulled the leather pouch from under his breastplate and drew out the gem and watched as its many facets sparkled in the moonlight.

It had happened before, as it happened even now, that he fancied that the gem created a light of its own. He turned it over and held it up to the sky, but he couldn't be sure. Perhaps… it was just a reflection.

"What was your dad like?" asked Lavitz suddenly.

Casting a glance over, Dart saw that Lavitz was studying him, and he quickly put away the gem.

"I don't remember as much as I'd like," he responded hesitantly. "I think… he worked at the lumbermill. I remember times that we would go into town, and it seemed like everyone wanted to talk to him. I would get mad because I just wanted to go home." Dart smiled. "He always had time for people. He'd take us out a lot, I think, even if it was just into the woods to play."

"He sounds like a pleasant fellow."

"I think he was. I'm sure you would have liked him."

"And you said that gem was his, right?"

Dart nodded. "I don't think he flaunted it, though. He must have kept it close or hidden."

"Kind of like you," grinned Lavitz.

Chuckling, Dart nodded. Then looking at Lavitz, he found a strange expression that he couldn't quite read, as if Lavitz were analyzing him. It was a critical eye that made Dart uncomfortable, and he returned his gaze to the forest.

"What about your mom?" asked Lavitz.

He couldn't help but smile as he remembered her. "She was kind. Timid. But fierce. Something about her allowed my dad to be comfortable with her. I remember one time, when they thought I was asleep, I came into the living room and saw them talking. I don't remember what it was about, but I remember that my mom was crying. And, I think my dad was, too."

After a pause, Lavitz said, "I think we would have gotten along well." Dart was relieved to see that Lavitz had returned to studying the horizon instead of him.

Before long, Dart found himself drifting through old memories again, this time of his family. He saw himself throw a soft ball of snow at his father's back and heard his deep-throated laughter ring through the trees. Then his father reached down, grabbed a handful himself, and threw it back. Dart grinned as he remembered his mother with her coat drawn up around her neck, laughing as she joined in the fight.

The joyful memory turned to sadness as his mind shifted to that fateful day maybe a year after. His parents ran toward the edge of the village while he hugged his mother's neck in terror. In the distance, he saw a black explosion that turned into red flames. His parents whispered fervently before his father knelt before him, reminded him to be strong, and ran toward the flames. Then after he was hidden, he cried as his mother left, too. The cold was acute, transcending time and piercing Dart even now while he sat next to the wall in Hoax.

Shaking his head, he focused his mind on the blades of grass growing next to him. He plucked one and began to roll it between his fingers. Then he grabbed another, and another, and he began to weave them together.

"That's not right," muttered Lavitz, who was now alert and gazing south.

Dart's head snapped to the forest, and he realized that the crickets had all but ceased their song to the south. The owls were no longer singing. And then in terror, he watched as tiny flames began to spring to life among the trees. Within seconds, he counted at least four dozen.

Leaping to his feet, Lavitz began banging on the gate as someone shouted inside.

"They're coming!" he shouted. "They're coming from the south forest!"

More shouts came from inside the city as the gate slowly opened, and Dart and Lavitz slipped inside as a bell began to ring from the city hall. All at once, the town of Hoax sprang to life as soldiers poured onto the streets and archers took their places up on the southern wall.

Pausing, Dart searched the ramparts around the belltower, and he saw a terrified Shana gazing south and slinging a quiver over her back. Then she began to search below, and she caught Dart's eye. Clenching his jaw, Dart wished more than anything that he could be up there with her, but Lavitz snagged Dart's arm and pulled him away.

"Lavitz!" called Kaiser, running to them from across the square. "You lead the fight at the eastern gate, and I'll take the west!"

"Yes, sir!" Lavitz saluted. "As service demands…"

"We fulfill," nodded Kaiser as he returned the salute. "Get over there and form ranks. We have precious few minutes."

Nodding, Lavitz tapped Dart's shoulder and rushed back toward the eastern gate, where a flurry of soldiers milled about aimlessly. On seeing Lavitz, they stopped, waiting for orders.

"Line up!" called Lavitz, and the soldiers formed three lines in remarkable time. A rumble of movement rang low over them from beyond the city, and the soldiers cast fearful glances toward the walls. "To me!" shouted Lavitz, and the soldiers turned to him. "I may not be your captain, but hear my heart. We are soldiers of Basil, the Sixth Knighthood! The demands of service have brought us to this moment, and we will fulfill them. This city is full of civilians, and we will protect them at all costs."

Dart's eyes drifted up to Shana, who stood ready to fight alongside a dozen others high above Hoax.

"Our duty is to defend this gate," continued Lavitz. "We are the first line of defense, and we will not allow a single one of our enemies to reach those buildings. Knights of Basil, hear me! We will fight for our king! We will fight for our people!"

As Lavitz held his lance aloft, the soldiers – including Dart – offered a shout. Then Lavitz directed the knights into three groups of twenty: two to guard the gate and one to secure the town square should the enemy breach the walls. Dart fell in line with them and drew his sword as they settled in to wait.

Those thunderous footsteps drew ever nearer as an eerie silence fell over Hoax.

"Fire!" called someone, and the twang of bowstrings sounded from the walls as a dozen archers released their arrows. Dim grunts and muffled shouts came from beyond the wall as the archers readied another volley, but then came a whistle of arrows in retaliation.

"Shields!" screamed Lavitz, and the soldiers raised their shields into the air as arrows rained down over the wall. Dart had just managed to duck under one as an arrow fell where he'd stood a second before. He grimaced when a soldier's body thumped to the ground from the wall, an arrow in her throat.

The groups fired back and forth as the knights inside the city hid under their blue safeguards. Another archer fell, and then another, and then a rough banging sounded on the gate.

"Reinforce the gate!"

Five soldiers rushed forward and began pushing against the large door, though Dart was surprised that it hadn't already been shattered. The banging continued as Sandoran soldiers began to climb over the walls, and Dart watched as the archers scrambled to draw their swords and fight back. But before long, all the archers had been slain.

One by one, the Sandorans dropped down into the city, and the inner troops were forced into combat. At first, the fighting was slow and sparse with few enemies, but the number steadily increased, and at long last, Dart rushed forward to follow Lavitz to reinforce the knights in the square.

He stabbed one just before a Basilian fell to her blade, and then Dart turned and deflected several blows from another. After slicing the enemy's leg, he drew his blade across his neck and prepared for another who rushed him from the left. They exchanged several blows, and Dart grunted as the soldier cut across his left thigh. He sidestepped another attack and stabbed the man's right bicep before running him through from the side.

With a pause in the onslaught, Dart glanced around and saw Lavitz handling himself well closer to the wall. Then came a loud crack, and Dart spun to see the gate burst open as splinters pierced the knights that were closest. One screamed and backed away, grasping at her face, and Dart grimaced to see a thick shard of wood embedded in her cheek as blood streamed down her face and neck.

"Dart!" came Lavitz's voice. "Reinforce the gate!"

Dart nodded and rushed over as soldiers in Sandora purple began to pour through into Hoax. But Dart planted himself firmly before the Basilians, and soon enough, his sword was spinning around him as he fought three enemies at once. Despite his situation, he could not help but feel that these odds were better than what he'd faced in Hellena Prison, and with renewed vigor, he dispatched all three soldiers in a matter of minutes.

However, they were replaced moments later, and Dart continued fighting. Though he was forced back into line with the other Basilians, he continued to fight and kill the Sandorans as they came. In time, a sort of frenzy came over him, and he fell into a rhythm of battle that seemed to soothe his anxiety rather than enhance it. Ignoring the peculiarity, he used it to his advantage as he killed soldier after soldier as they spilled into Hoax.

As time passed, the organization of the Sixth Knighthood began to falter. The town square had become a mass of chaos as two hundred men and women fought for their lives. But eventually, the wave of enemies stayed, and Dart – who remained near the gate, gained a moment to stop and breathe.

He glanced around with a heavy heart; he could not decide who had the upper hand. But then he lifted his eyes to the bell tower and spotted Shana. The building had not yet been breached, and she remained in her place with the other archers, firing arrows into the fray below whenever she felt that she had a clear shot.

Dart's attention returned to the battlefield, and he noticed movement behind him. Spinning, he saw a soldier approaching him cautiously, keeping his sword high. Dart could not see his face through the helmet, but the soldier's fear was evident through his hesitation, and some part of Dart gained a grim satisfaction as he stepped forward. He was gaining a reputation. The soldier faltered, and Dart rushed him and brought his sword down toward the soldier's neck, but the enemy managed to swing a sword up to block the attack. However, this soldier had been unprepared for Dart's attack, and his blade slipped under the force. Dart's heavy broadsword sank into the man's neck several inches, and he cried out in pain, only to be muffled as Dart finished the motion, pouring blood onto the ground as the enemy's neck burst open.

Two more enemy soldiers approached him on his right, and he spun to face them. They rushed at him, swinging wide to flank him, and he found himself pinned between their blades. However, these soldiers were slow to attack and quick to fall. Slicing the back of one soldier's leg, Dart watched him fall to the ground, clutching his wound, before turning to the other and quickly running him through. Then he relieved the first of his head.

Hearing footsteps rushing toward him, Dart turned and barely raised his sword in time to block a savage blow from another soldier. The surprise attack bought this enemy little more than a few more seconds of life, as Dart recovered quickly and dispatched him.

Just then, a volley of arrows showered down on them from over the wall, and Dart instinctively hunkered down and covered his head, mourning a lack of shield as protection. An arrow grazed his knee and forced a gasp, but he heard several cries and saw at least a dozen soldiers fall around him, from both Basil and Sandora alike. The archers that remained along the walls were actively firing beyond the southern wall, and Dart swore to imagine that there were yet more enemies beyond.

Three more enemies rushed at Dart, and he froze as another volley of arrows came over the walls. One of the three raised a shield, and an arrow glanced off harmlessly, but the one on the right crumpled to the ground after an arrow pierced his neck. Unfazed, the other two continued forward, and Dart drew himself into a defensive stance.

The soldier on the left attacked first, but Dart expertly sidestepped before drawing his sword across the man's chest. His chain mail rendered the attack useless, and the soldier countered with a quick jab at Dart's leg that Dart was barely able to block. Then he knocked the man's sword to the side and cut off the soldier's hand just below his steel gauntlet. He screamed in pain and clutched his wrist before Dart beheaded him.

The final soldier held his metal-plated shield close for protection as Dart studied the chinks in his armor. Then he attacked, and for several seconds, the two fought until Dart spun around behind him and sliced at the exposed back of his knee. The soldier cried out and fell forward, catching himself on his wounded leg. He struggled to stand, but Dart thrust his sword through a small gap by his armpit, sinking his blade into the man's heart. He gasped and fell dead just as another wave of soldiers rushed through the gate into Hoax.

But Dart continued to fight. After each kill, each soldier was instantly replaced with another. However, Dart was faster and stronger than any of his enemies, and his battle fury only grew with each successive kill. Losing track of time, he felt the insanity of battle take over his body, enabling him to ignore the minor cuts and bleeding slits that began to adorn his skin.

After what must have been a couple hours, he found that the number of enemy soldiers was finally dwindling. During a pause in the flurry, he surveyed the battlefield again and noticed countless bodies littering the ground. The sight disheartened him, but he drew a small comfort in the high proportion of Sandoran purple. Although the battle had calmed somewhat, he knew that it was far from over.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder, and he gasped, reaching for it blindly. Feeling cold steel just under his pauldron, he pulled a throwing knife out of his shoulder blade. The deep wound screamed at him, speaking of a chink in his bone, and he looked around to find whoever could throw with enough precision to find such a small gap in his armor. There at the main gate stood a lean man in black leather armor. A dark hood covered his face, but Dart knew that this man had his sights trained on him. Dart glanced down to the soldier's waist and saw half a dozen more knives strapped to belt next to a short sword. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Dart gripped his sword tightly and waited.

In one swift action, the soldier grabbed another knife and hurtled it toward Dart's face. Dart just managed to move to the side and avoid the attack, but another came immediately after, and he was barely able to lift his sword in time to deflect the knife.

Rushing forward, Dart shouted as he prepared to attack. Nimbly, the man drew his sword and met Dart's, though he faltered under the weight of the heavier weapon. Soon enough, the pair were thrust into a flurry of battle, dancing back and forth as each gained ground and then lost it a second later. Where Dart had strength, his enemy had dexterity, and he was frustrated time and again by how quickly the man moved. Just as Dart felt that he was gaining an advantage, he stumbled and was forced to catch himself. Scrambling, he was just able to catch a weighted attack from his opponent, and he found himself face to face with the man, one knee sinking into the earth as he fought to keep himself from toppling over.

Then Dart heard his name shouted over the cacophony of battle, but he dared not turn his head to see. Gritting his teeth, Dart pushed with all his might, and a shout escaped him as he inched the soldier back and forced himself to his feet. Then he kicked at the man's knee as hard as he could, and he heard a satisfying pop as the soldier squealed and fell to the earth, cradling his leg. A second later, an arrow thumped into the soldier's chest, and he gasped until his breath left him.

Panting, Dart glanced around and saw Shana at her perch, nodding to him with a smile. He offered a lazy salute as Lavitz ran up to him.

"I got worried," he said breathlessly. "I saw you, and I had to come to help."

"Thanks," replied Dart, clapping Lavitz on the back. "Any advice?"

"Keep fighting," grinned Lavitz. "Fight to the last."

A soldier ran through the gate, and Dart and Lavitz quickly flanked him, and he was dead a second later.

"Any sign of a dragon?" called Lavitz with his eyes trained on the night sky.

"None that I've seen. Maybe we got lucky. Maybe they decided to wait to use it."

"Don't get comfy just yet. We still have plenty of time for things to go wrong."

"I thought we had to assume the best-case scenario."

Over the air came a shrill shriek from beyond the wall, and Dart stopped to listen. More voices joined, and Dart imagined that part of Sandora's army was fleeing from some kind of terror. He locked eyes with Lavitz, whose face grew grim.

"You were saying?" said Dart.

With a rough shake of his head, Lavitz ran through the empty gate and peered south through the night. Dart joined him and followed his gaze to a dwindling patch of torchlights gathered perhaps a hundred yards away from the south wall, and he estimated that another hundred soldiers were waiting to march into the city. But most curious was that the torchlights were disappearing one by one, as if someone were systematically snuffing them. A wave of darkness appeared to be emanating from the forest half a mile away.

"What is that?" he breathed.

"Is that the power of a dragon?" asked Lavitz, voice wavering.

"Why would they have it attacking their own men?"

"Maybe you were wrong. Maybe they can't control it."

"Into the city!" shouted someone from among the distant torches.

"Go!" urged Lavitz, and the pair ran back inside. To Dart's amazement, the battle within the walls appeared to have calmed somewhat, though bodies were scattered on nearly every available surface. Still, Basilian soldiers were coming to a rest here and there across the battlefield. As they glanced around, several rushed to help their comrades who were still locked in combat, and soon enough, the fighting had ceased.

"To the gates!" shouted Kaiser from across the way, and Lavitz echoed his command a moment later while he waved his lance in the air. "To the gates! More are on their way!"

The sixty that had begun the battle with them was now only thirty, and fear was written across many faces. But the stalwart knights regrouped by the broken gate and rallied around Lavitz, who continued to shout even as torchlight crept within their view.

The battle began anew as another three dozen enemies poured into Hoax, and it was not long before Dart and Lavitz were fighting back-to-back while soldiers surrounded them. With his fourth kill, Dart felt a slight shuddering in the ground beneath him, and he blocked an attack from his left when movement of something large caught his eye. He glanced toward the gate, where he saw a new threat enter Hoax.

While it was no dragon, it might as well have been. A great, burly man, nearly nine feet tall, ducked through the broken gate and stood straight as he looked around the battlefield. His body was protected by fur armor, and in his hand was a great axe that Dart estimated was as wide as he was tall. Cheers came from Sandora, and they began chanting the man's name while screams came from Basil.

"Kongol! Kongol! Kongol!"

Dart gasped in pain as his distraction allowed an enemy blade to cut into his side. Focus redirected, he quickly killed the soldier in front of him and turned his attention to the new enemy that stood before him.

"It's him," spat Lavitz, glowering at the beast of a man. "The giganto that tore my people apart!"

A group of Basilian soldiers rushed the giganto, but he grabbed one of them by the throat, lifted him several feet off the ground, and tossed him into the wall. Dart flinched to hear the soldier's body breaking against the wooden barricade, and Dart could do little more than watch in horror as the giganto swung his axe cleanly through another. The last soldier was met with the giganto's fist, which propelled her back several feet until she fell into Dart. They tumbled to the ground, and the heavy footfalls of the giganto approached with surprising swiftness.

Rolling to the side, Dart dragged the soldier with him just as the axe cut into the ground where they'd lain. Then leaping to his feet, he stood between the soldier and the giganto.

"Go!" he shouted. "We'll handle this!"

When the soldier hesitated, he shoved her away and focused on the giganto, who sneered at him.

"You are brave," nodded the giganto. "But that will not help you against me."

"Do you remember me?" asked Lavitz, and the giganto's head snapped toward him.

"Yes," Kongol said.

"Things are going to be different this time."

"We shall see," mumbled the giganto as he raised his axe.

Dart rushed forward only to be forced to sidestep the giganto's large weapon. On the enemy's other side, Lavitz lunged forward, and Kongol threw up a hand to knock aside his lance. Then Dart stabbed, but his blade found only the thick fur armor. Kongol turned and swung his axe toward Lavitz, but the knight ducked just in time, and Dart swiped across Kongol's left arm, drawing blood as little as if he'd been nicked by a kitchen knife. Dart stepped forward and tried to pierce the giganto's enormous thigh, but Kongol swung his axe around and batted the sword away. It bounced back at Dart, nearly striking his face while Lavitz sliced across Kongol's calf. Then Kongol snatched Lavitz by the neck and lifted him from the ground. With both hands, Dart drove his sword into Kongol's left leg, but it did not prevent Lavitz from being tossed into the fray farther into the square.

"Lavitz!" he shouted as he began to attack in a frenzy. Kongol gasped as an arrow sank a mere inch into his shoulder, and Dart ducked this way and that as he weaved about Kongol's feet and cut his legs whenever possible. Over time, Dart's quick movements began to frustrate the giganto, and he began to growl with his attacks, swiping about as Dart sidestepped and blocked.

After a minute or so, Lavitz rejoined the fight, though blood was streaming over half his face thanks to a wound on his forehead. But together, the pair was too quick for the lumbering brute, and they were able to strike him over and over as his anger grew to a roar of wrath.

Then Dart took a risk and swept to the side, looking for a chance to relieve Kongol of his deadly axe. However, Kongol swung his arm back as he stepped away from Lavitz, and the butt of the weapon struck Dart on his chest, knocking him off his feet while all the air left his body.

A second later, Dart fell onto the hard earth, his head slamming into the dirt and splitting his mind with pain. Stars danced before his eyes as he fought to stay conscious and find air, but for a long several seconds, he could do nothing but lie there helplessly.

"Sir Lavitz!" someone shouted, and Dart forced his head off the ground to see what was going on as he drew an unsteady breath. Kongol was swiping through waves of Basilian soldiers, and Lavitz lay behind him unconscious on the ground.

"No," he muttered as he pushed himself up. Then with his head pounding, he snatched his sword from its place a few feet from him and took several unsteady steps forward. Lavitz stirred, and Dart regained some hope as he picked up his pace, ignoring the intense nausea that now washed over him, and planted himself in Kongol's path.

Soldiers ran away screaming as the giganto's fierce eyes settled on Dart. But Dart would not move until the giganto was slain.

Another arrow pierced Kongol's chest, and he snarled before ripping it out and casting it to the ground. Dart glanced over to see Shana in the square, reaching for another arrow from her dwindling quiver as she ran toward Dart. His heart sank into his stomach to see her so close to danger, but there was nothing he could do except stop Kongol from reaching her.

Lavitz now eased to his feet some twenty feet behind Kongol as the giganto moved toward Dart. Another arrow struck his belly, but he did not stop to remove it this time. A fist barreled toward Dart, and he clumsily tried to duck, but he was disoriented from his fall. A sharp pain split his cheek and cast him back to the ground, where he lay tasting blood. Slowly, he rolled over to see Kongol's axe raised, ready to fall on him and end his paltry attempts at defending Hoax.

And then all went black.

And yet, he still breathed. His body still ached. Screams rang out around him, and he heard the odd, guttural shriek of a giganto in terror. Then someone grabbed him, reaching underneath his arms and dragging him away, where the light of Hoax's torches splashed over his eyes once again, and he recoiled from their sudden illumination.

"Wake up!" commanded someone, and he saw a woman before him, the same woman that he'd seen east of Seles two weeks ago when the dragon had attacked him. But she appeared different now. Wings sprouted from her back and were flapping, keeping her hovering just off the ground. Her armor had changed, too, etched with remarkable designs that he was sure had not been there before.

Dart blinked. Surely, he was hallucinating. Reaching up, he touched the back of his head and flinched to feel the smarting wound, confirming his thoughts.

"I said, wake up! Do something!" repeated the woman, pointing her sword at him. "Dragoon of the red-eyed dragon!"

"What? I am awake," he replied as if in a haze. "But I can't do anything."

He looked toward the battle, but he gasped to see a dark void where he'd expected to see soldiers. Shrieks still came from within, and among them, he could just make out the sound of his own name. Then something began to glow, and his eyes snapped to a familiar gem embedded in the woman's armor. He squinted at it as it flashed again, casting an odd, dark light around it even as the gem beneath his own breastplate sparkled in response. Bewildered, he looked down to see a red glow showing even through his armor, and a peculiar warmth spread from it across his face.

The darkness over the battle vanished, and Dart stood as the chaos was revealed. Kongol sat on his knees, holding his head in his hands, and the remaining Basilian soldiers suddenly stopped to look at him with horror in their eyes. Even Shana and Lavitz were gazing at him and the woman in confusion. Kongol stopped and stood, fear still written on his face as he watched Dart stumble forward.

The red light grew in intensity as heat rushed over Dart's body. An unfamiliar power came over him, and he suddenly felt that his body was on fire, as if not releasing the power would cause the flames to consume him in a matter of seconds. Then he was blinded by that red light, and he screamed, releasing the pressure from whatever was threatening to burst within him. Power surged, and he felt his feet leave the ground as the energy exploded in every direction.

He grabbed hold of the power and called it back to him as he took several deep, calming breaths. Then he opened his eyes, gasping to see that Hoax was now twenty feet below him. Everyone in the town now stood with their necks craned to see him high above them – everyone except Kongol, who lay face down on the ground fifteen feet from where he'd been moments before.

In utter confusion, all he could do was breathe. He wasn't sure how he was suspended so high in the air, but all he wanted was to get back to the ground, although he didn't know how. Then the woman with wings flitted up next to him and held out a hand.

"Come with me," she said.

I must be dead, he thought sourly as he took her hand, noticing that his hand was now covered with a gauntlet eerily similar to the woman's armor.

Together, they floated to the ground while every living Sandora soldier fled out the empty gate, and Dart sighed to feel earth beneath him again. Shana and Lavitz rushed to him, Lavitz limping slightly, and they stared at him wide-eyed.

"Dart…" began Shana.

"What happened?" Dart asked, glancing at Kongol.

"You… stopped him."

Kongol stirred, and the Basilians flinched as he stood and glared at Dart. A long burn was now visible across his left arm, and much of his armor had been singed. Blood ran down the side of his head and neck. With a mighty shout, he raised his axe once more and leapt at Dart, ready to bring it down on his head.

With ease, Dart stepped to the side, and he marveled at how slowly the giganto seemed to be moving. Avoiding him had been effortless. Kongol swung his axe back, and again, Dart took a gentle step back.

"Retreat!" cried a Sandoran soldier, and the men huddled near the gate began to rush out into the night.

Kongol roared again, striking at Dart with a fist, and this time Dart snatched his wrist from the air and held tightly. To his amazement, he was able to hold Kongol in place, and the giganto's skin began to sear as if touching burning coals. Frightened, Dart released Kongol and looked down at his hands.

"Kongol, retreat!" someone shouted from beyond the gate. "Doel will not have you die this way!"

Taking several steps backward, Kongol flexed his burned hand and watched Dart closely.

"This will not be the end!" he growled before rushing away through the gate.

With the final enemy gone, the crowd of soldiers began to cheer, and soon enough, a chant of Dart's name had begun. At this, the world began to slow, and Dart felt his head spin as he tried to breathe. Bending over, he rested his palms on his knees, only to find red knee pads and shin guards to match his new gauntlets. Then he noticed movement behind him and turned his neck to see that he himself had wings, just like the woman who had appeared.

His heart beat faster, and his breaths became strained as he tried to focus on staying upright. The chants of his name became dull sounds in the back of his mind despite the crowd that now gathered around him. Then someone touched his shoulder, and he turned to see the dark-haired woman, now appearing as he remembered her from the forest, eyeing him with an odd expression.

"It's over," she said. "You can let go."

Somehow, her voice was soothing. A moment later, he felt the snap of a taught cord within his heart, and light flashed across the crowd. They gasped, and he staggered forward as the pain of his many wounds returned to his body. His armor was back to normal, his wings were gone, and his body felt weak. Shana appeared to support him, and he leaned on her as he struggled to breathe. His eyes were growing dark.

"It's okay," Shana whispered. "Just breathe. Let's get you inside."

Lavitz threw his arm around Dart's other side, but Dart took only one step forward before he collapsed into unconsciousness.