Chapter Six: The Breach

The towering beast slammed into the ridge with a groan that shook the ground, but it wasn't dead. Not yet. The commander was still fighting it, locked in a brutal, dragging melee near the edge of the slope. His axe gleamed as it rose and fell, shield deflecting strikes from massive claws. Every movement was deliberate. Exhausting.

Smaller beasts swarmed around them now. Not as large, but fast. Dozens had broken through the trees, keeping the rest of the soldiers occupied and flanking the line. Arrows flew. Steel clanged.

Kael ducked low behind a ridge of stone. They weren't winning. Not yet.

That's when the voice came.

"Commander!" someone shouted from up the slope.

Kael turned and saw the man with the spectacles, the quiet one from the war council and the head of the mages, standing beside a scout, panting and pale. "There's movement," he said, nearly stumbling over his words. "Commander, there's more coming. Dozens. Maybe hundreds. They're all headed for the breach."

The commander was too deep in the fight to respond. His shield was locked against the giant's limb as more creatures rushed from the trees.

Kael didn't wait for orders. He climbed the slope just far enough to see over the shattered wall.

And he stopped cold.

The wall was higher than he'd expected, easily four stories tall at its highest point. But where the stone had crumbled under previous attacks, a gaping wound had been torn open. There's a massive gap where bricks and cement had fallen inward, leaving a hollow, jagged tunnel wide enough to march a wagon team through. Blackened edges marked where something had burned through.

And through that jagged hole, Kael saw them but not enough.

He touched card 3.

[Card 3: Awareness Pulse]

[Probability: 72% — SUCCESS]

He activated the card before he even realized his hand was moving. A golden ripple expanded from his chest, and his vision snapped into clarity.

Movement.

Masses of it.

Shapes that writhed and hunched. Some moved upright. Others crawled. He couldn't count them. The ravine below surged with movement, flooding toward the breach.

His blood ran cold. "Oh, no."

The commander had already seen enough. "Trey," he snapped. "Seal that breach."

"What?" a voice hissed. Kael turned to see the mage—likely Trey—glaring, jaw clenched. "With what, curses and dirt? You want me to seal a stone wall the size of a house with two mages and a prayer?"

"You have magic," the commander said bluntly. "Make it work."

Trey swore again and turned away, barking orders at the mages scrambling behind him.

Kael's eyes darted across the wreckage of the tower ruins nearby. He saw it—metal sheets, bent and blackened, strewn across the broken earth like discarded armor. Roof tiles, frame pieces, collapsed barricade frames—all of it usable.

He didn't hesitate.

"Trey!" Kael shouted, already moving down the slope. "Bring your mages! You're with me!"

Trey blinked at him, stunned. "What?"

"Now!"

To his credit, Trey recovered fast. "Coming, your Highness." he called, signaling to his unit.

Kael's legs burned as he slid down the rubble, heart thudding against his ribs. The soldiers nearby turned to follow without being told, grabbing what they could—chains, spears, anything iron. He pointed to a curved section of collapsed roof.

"There—get that to the breach!" he shouted.

Trey appeared beside him, breathless. "What the hell are we doing?"

"We're going to weld the wall shut."

"You're not a blacksmith!"

"No," Kael said, grabbing a length of chain. "But you've got fire. And we've got ten seconds."

Trey stared at him like he'd sprouted horns. "You mean to burn a barrier into stone—while they're charging?"

Kael looked at the hole again. The shapes were closer now. He could hear claws skittering over rock.

"Yes," he said. "Exactly that."

The mages exchanged nervous glances.

Trey muttered, "If this fails, we're all dead."

Kael didn't blink. "Do you have a better plan?"

Trey growled and spun around. "Fire mages, front line! You five—get the metal lifted, now!"

Kael barked the next order without hesitation. "If you can't lift metal, or use fire, get to the flanks! Fire at will on anything that moves! Those without flame, use barriers or hit them with whatever you've got!"

They scrambled into position. Fire burst in brief jets from trembling palms. A few conjured shields. Others hurled whatever kinetic force they could muster. The creatures were close now, but some were too close.

Kael shouted over the roar, "Faster! Get that slab sealed!"

He turned to Trey, who was already drenched in sweat. "More power! Burn it hotter!"

The mages flinched but obeyed, their faces pale as they glimpsed the advancing mass. Hundreds of beasts, charging at full speed.

"More!" Kael barked again. "Burn like your life depends on it! Because it does."

Kael raised his hand.

The mages on the flanks unleashed bursts of fire, bolts of light, and anything else they could conjure. Beasts fell, burning or torn apart mid-sprint, but more kept coming. The wave didn't thin—it surged.

Then a thunderous blast erupted just ahead, engulfing the front ranks of the charging creatures. Fire rolled across the earth, incinerating dozens in an instant.

Kael turned to see Bella at the center line, hands still lifted, her hair crackling with static.

He nodded once.

"More!" he barked as fresh beasts burst through the smoke, shrieking as they bounded forward.

He looked back toward the weld.

Only half done.

Kael's voice rang out, sharp. "How long?!"

Trey didn't look up. Sweat poured from his face, jaw clenched tight. Trey's full unit of seven had fanned out across the breach, palms already glowing. "Not long! Just—just keep them back!"

Kael turned and swore.

Five beasts broke through the line, sprinting straight for the gap.

The Jack was still grayed out. He didn't have time to gamble anyway.

He activated the card without hesitation.

[Card 6: Shieldwall]

Status: Activated

Duration Remaining: 10 seconds

Shieldwall shimmered to life, and Kael felt the sharp pull in his core, like being yanked through ice.

"Ten seconds," Kael muttered. "I need all of them."

A golden arc shimmered across the remaining hole in the barricade just as the lead beast crashed into it. One beast slammed into the barrier hard enough to make the arc ripple. Kael staggered back a step, heart hammering as the jarring impact rattled through his core.

"I only got 10—9—" he shouted, eyes on the glowing barrier as claws raked across it and the countdown ticked lower.

Bella sprinted past him toward the melders without a word. She raised her hands, channeling another blast toward the seams.

The air was chaos. Screams. Magic. Steel.

The wall still wasn't done.

Trey muttered a prayer he clearly didn't believe and stepped forward, fire already curling at his fingers. He drew a symbol in the air, and flame surged outward in a tight, controlled arc—not a blast, but a focused stream. It struck the edge of the largest metal sheet, and Kael, with two mages, lifted the last glowing slab into place against the breach.

The air sizzled.

Trey cursed, sweat pouring down his brow. "Hold it—hold it—damn it, this is going to fuse me too—!"

Another mage stepped up beside him, channeling a second burst. More soldiers dragged a beam from the rubble. Sparks flew as molten metal seared against fractured stone.

"Five seconds!" Kael shouted.

The magic barrier flickered. The glow dimmed.

"Just one more—" Trey gasped.

The second slab dropped into place. The fire licked across the seams. Chains were thrown, fastened, sealed in heat.

The barrier collapsed.

"Shield's down!" Kael shouted, already reaching for anything sharp and solid.

The breach held.

The first beast struck the welded barricade and bounced back. It shrieked, confused, scraping at the new wall. Kael stared as the hastily-fused metal groaned under impact... but didn't break.

Trey stumbled back, clutching one arm. "Don't ask me to do that again."

Kael didn't know if the wall would hold. But he knew what would happen if it didn't.

He looked toward the now-sealed breach and the stunned soldiers behind him.

"I won't," he said. "Unless we run out of walls."