The tear-stained face of a young boy stared back at Theodora from beneath the bed of the abandoned farmhouse. His eyes were wide, and brimming with moisture.

  “It's him, sir. The sybil.” She flickered her vis once more. “Definitely him.”

  “Krion, keep watch on the hall,” said Captain Tanhkmet. “Junius, alert the rifles outside that the enemy isn’t here, likely elsewhere in the town. Have them all positioned to defend this building, if need be.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “Think you can get him to come out?”

  Theo hesitated, unsure. She'd never been good with children. But the Captain of the Imperial Guard standing over her was strong motivation at least to try.

  “Uh… it's okay…” she ventured. “You’re safe now…“

  She reached toward him beneath the bed, and he recoiled from the brush of her fingers.

  “Uh… what’s your name, there?”

  “…Caesos,” he replied, sniffling.

  “Alright, Caesos, well... it's safe, now. You can come out, and the Captain and I will keep you safe. We’ll get you back to the caretakers,” she said.

  “No!” he screamed. “I don’t wanna go back!”

  She glanced back up at Tanhkmet. His expression was ashen, and unreadable.

  “Shhh, there, shhh," she tried once more. "If you come with us, it’ll be okay… the bad people won’t be able to hurt you anymore. We’ll protect you.”

  “I don’t want to go back… please don’t make me go back.”

  Junius returned, giving the captain a curt nod.

  “Help me lift the bed, commander,” said Tanhkmet quietly. “We can’t linger here… there’s no way this isn’t some kind of trap. You grab him, Belisarion, and we’ll get out of here.”

  Theo swallowed, making herself ready.

  With a heave, Tanhkmet and Junius hoisted the nearest side of the bedframe aloft. Theo stepped over to scoop the boy up as gently as she could.

  She expected him to scream, and try to scramble away. But he let out only a soft, defeated whimper, and made no attempt to resist. He smelled terrible, she realized, as she gathered him into her arms.

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  It was then she saw he was blind. His eyes milky gray, and unfocused.

  “Let's move,” said Tanhkmet. He slung his shield back down onto his arm once more as he made for the door.

  The child nestled further into Theo’s arms as she followed the captain. His tears subdued, but did not stop.

  “Krion, we have him,” said Tanhkmet, halfway down the stairs. “Back on us.”

  “What’s your name, son?” Junius tried to ask the boy.

  “…Caesos,” he answered again from Theo's arm.

  “You’re alright now, Caesos," said Junius. "You’re safe. Can you tell me where the bad people are? The ones who took you here? Where are the people who took you from— from the city?”

  “There’s no one…” the boy managed, his voice tiny and wavering.

  “They’re gone now, but do you know where they went? Did you hear any of their names, perhaps?”

  “There’s no one… no one took me… I came here all by myself,” the boy murmured tearfully. The gray of his blind eyes glinted in the darkness of that musty stairway. “And there’s no one… no one left…” he said.

  But his voice then was not his own. True silver light shimmered in his pupils, Theo saw.

  “It's not safe here,” that other voice breathed.

  Then the shimmer left his eyes, and he fell limp in her arms.

  “What the fuck was that?” said Junius.

  “He’s fainted.”

  “No, I mean—”

  “Not now,” hissed Tanhkmet. “Out, first.”

  The next instant, Theo sensed the most malevolent and powerful presence of vis she’d ever felt before in her life.

  She first thought the aura must be originating from somewhere impossibly near, given she felt it so intense. As if its wielder were standing right in front of her.

  Tanhkmet and Junius stopped dead in their tracks at the threshold. The air hummed as Tanhkmet’s band of maroon flame reappeared, and he brought his shield up to a full shouldered brace, as did Junius with a two-handed sword of fire navy blue. Almost simultaneously they felt appear a company of other presences belonging to the Guards positioned. Less experienced, Theo manifested her vis as well if a second later, and the interior swam in the dark-green mixture of their halos.

  They all shared a look, eyes wide.

  The captain was the first to rush back outside. Theo followed as quickly as she could, alongside Junius and Krion.

  The soldiers of the company were entrenched in makeshift barricades around the farmhouse as prepared by Junius minutes ago. A rainbow of flaming crowns filled the square, together with the raised barrels of their rifles.

  Without exception, those rifles were aimed in the direction from which they all sensed that terrible enemy.

  Towards the north. The direction of Atum-Ra.

  Towards an enemy apparently still so far away as to remain unseen. Theo was blanketed in cold fear as she realized the sheer power necessary to exude a presence like that at such distance.

  Every veteran in the courtyard held their breath, all together feeling the same strange pause. Like the spreading cracks of a dam on the verge of failure.

  An instant before the whole of the sky was white and burning and painfully, unbearably bright.

  "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendour of the Mighty One..."

  Bhagavad Gita