Arya: The tower under attack.

Suddenly, an alarm was heard that no one had experienced except during training. A ringing of dark bells for dark hours. The tower was under attack.

Arya and Elix stumbled out through his door. Arya had just managed to finish Elix's runes, which was a small comfort amidst all the feelings of worry and terror.

"Who dares attack the Tower?" Elix muttered. But they both knew they were demons.

"I need weapons. I mean we, need weapons," Arya said.

"Come."

There were no signs of battle where they were, but they met confused adepts, novices, recruits and, protectors. No fully-fledged Magas or guardians. After all, they weren't inside the tower, but in the side building for novices and adepts so, it wasn't surprising.

Arya started to pull Elix through the corridors towards the training rooms for future guardians. Elix was not a melee person but a wizard. But all magicians trained with weapons since witches and wizards could only cast a certain number of spells without needing new runes.

"How many runes do you have in total, Elix?" Arya had seen that he had several even before she made the five new ones.

"I have twenty-five." That was a considerable number for an adept. The normal number used to be fifteen among adepts and slightly smaller among novices.

Elix and Arya had to zigzag among people. It was chaos. They run down winding stairs and through corridors. Arya had to wait for Elix to catch up. She had the speed and strength of a Guardian, even without using rune magic.

"Wait Arya, I can't keep up," Elix shouted several times as they ran.

Elix was not untrained but one of the better of the future Magas in terms of strength, agility and, speed. But he was not a magical warrior like recruiters, protectors or, guardians. He could certainly match them if he used magic and with the right runes. But he was first and foremost a caster.

Arya opened the door to one of the training rooms. It was empty and, she rushed to her weapons locker, which was on the other side of the room. She opened it with a jerk so that the door almost came loose.

Arya took out a short sword with belt and scabbard, which she threw to Elix. "Take this for self-defense. It's one of my rune swords. You need to fill the runes with Yang, it already has Yin."

Arya then took out two more short swords, throwing knives and a foot-long silver dagger.

"Can you fill the runes on these with Yang?" Arya's tone was expressionless and professional. The fear she had felt was not gone. It was there, but also conviction, hope and, anger.

Their eyes met for a moment. Elix's blue-grey stormy eyes and Arya's gleaming silver framed by long dark eyelashes and eyebrows. She didn't see it herself, but the intensity in them shone. Elix broke contact and replied.

"Absolutely no problem."

The door slammed open and, in came two large massive demons at least 6.1 feet with a weight of over 240 lb.

How had they gotten into the tower area? These weren't shadow-demons but some other types Arya didn't recognize. Arya didn't wait but acted quickly. One moment she was next to Elix, in the next, she was spinning in the air with two short swords.

One of Arya's short swords cut into the stomach of the nearest demon. And with a pirouette-like motion, she thrust her second sword into the head of the other. The blade had been pushed through its jaw, up through the palate into its brain. Blood and brain substance ran along the sword.

There was no Yang in them. Elix hadn't had time to load them. But they were made of steel, silver and, titanium. And silver hurt demons but couldn't kill them the way silver killed vampires and shifters. However, one of the demons was dead, the other was injured but it pulled out Arya's short sword from its stomach and threw it away.

A blast from behind threw Arya into the wall along with three burning shadow demons. They had tried to sneak up on Elix, but his self-triggering rune had thrown them backward, entangling them in fire energy and an inferno of red blazing fire flames.

"Arya," Elix cried in exasperation. She had a slight burn that had already begun to heal without her using any healing runes. Arya rolled around on the floor and then, in one movement, went from lying to a standing fighting position.

The demon who previously had a sword through his stomach tried to escape. But it didn't get far before Elix's fire swept in and turned it to ash.

"How long can you keep the rune active?" Arya asked.

"Another minute at most," he replied.

"It's chaos. I don't know what to do..."

Screams of dying people filled the corridors. It was quite clear that there were more demons in the building and probably in the tower itself.

"Let's try to gather as many as we can here. Then it'll be easier to defend ourselves with more future Magas, recruits, and protectors."

An icy inhuman scream cut through the air and, everything with a soul trembled. It passed through walls of stone, wood and, earth as if they did not exist. It was impossible to tell where it came from.

People stumbled into the training room and, now there were not just would-be Magas but real witches, wizards and, guardians. Arya recognized one of them, Siona, who was surrounded by three guardians.

Again, was the horrible piercing scream heard. And now the walls were shaking and, the plaster was falling down. Elix looked up worriedly. He certainly thought the house was going to collapse.

There were now twenty people in the training room. Siona, along with four witches, three wizards and, seven guardians kept the peace. But the others were terrified and almost apathetic.

Two more shadow demons tried to enter through the door but, they were quickly pierced by magical rune weapons wielded by the guardians.

Siona stood with her head held high in a light blue thin long dress with silver thread and silver chains. Her long red hair hung in curls down her chest and back.

"Arya, Elix, stay here with us. Our brothers and sisters will take care of the demons. This will be a safe room from now on." Her voice was honey.

Arya looked at Elix and then Siona. Another inhuman scream cut through the walls and ceiling as two other men came through the door. More seeking shelter, or so Arya thought at first. It wasn't until a knife glinted that she realized her mistake.

Two were already dead. A witch and a protector had each had a knife through their hearts. 'Why aren't the others reacting,' Arya thought.

"Elix, why aren't the others moving. Why aren't they reacting." She shouted the words as she threw herself at the men. One of her throwing knives had already left her hand. It struck one in the throat and, he dropped to his knees with a gurgling sound.

The other man was indifferent and was just about to slice open the abdomen of a young pretty woman with golden hair. Her eyes were filled with terror. Arya plowed straight into the traitor throwing him backward. These were not demons but... people. 'What's going on? Who chooses to fight on the same side as demons?'

A wave of spirit elements broke the spell that froze everyone. Elix had cast some general anti-magic. Arya had never known of any anti-magic spirit rune, but it apparently existed.

Everyone who had been frozen fell over, except for a guardian next to the girl who was attacked. He cut off the head of the last rogue with a single smooth slash.

Arya was about to ask how the girl was doing but flinched, eyes wide. It was Crown Princess Eleonora.