The second monster was a woman. Her back was fused with a large, sharp section of a wooden dining table. Her arms were stretched out wide, attached to the wooden legs of the table. She looked like a twisted, walking spider made of wood and flesh. The third monster was the worst. It was a tall guard. His head was missing completely. Instead, a large, glowing street lantern was fused directly into his neck. The glass lantern cast a bright, searching yellow beam of light across the dark tunnel. The patrol was moving incredibly slowly. They were sweeping the area, looking for survivors. Elara pressed herself harder against the wall. The forty refugees behind her were perfectly silent. They were frozen in pure terror. The monsters drew closer. They were only twenty feet away from the opening of the alcove. Then, disaster struck. Right behind Elara, a young man named Fenn was hiding. Fenn was a baker’s apprentice. During the fall of the city, his leg had been deeply cut by a falling ro

The single drop of thick, green acid sizzled on the cold metal floor. A foul, burning smoke rose into the air. Elara did not breathe. She did not blink. She kept her head tilted back, staring straight up into the pitch-black darkness of the colossal ceiling. Two massive, glowing crimson eyes stared back down at her. They were not human eyes. They did not have pupils. They were solid, burning red lights, filled with ancient, mindless hunger. A low, clicking growl vibrated through the vast, empty hangar bay. It was a sound that shook the dust from the walls. "Do not move," Elara whispered. Her voice was so quiet it was barely a breath. She slowly reached down to her belt with her right hand. Her fingers wrapped tightly around the handle of her royal steel dagger. Behind her, the forty refugees from Lyrendale stood completely frozen. They looked up at the ceiling. Little Lily buried her face in her mother’s dirty dress, trying not to cry. Kael, the broad-shouldered man, tightened hi

The blade went all the way in up to the handle. The Apex Predator let out a sound so loud, so terrible, and so full of agonizing pain that the ancient metal machines in the hangar bay vibrated. Thick, black, oily fluid exploded out of the ruined eye, spraying all over Elara's face and clothes. The fluid was hot and smelled like rotting garbage. The monster went completely crazy with pain. It reared up on its back legs, thrashing wildly. It swung its massive head back and forth, trying to get the stinging pain out of its eye. Elara lost her grip on the bone armor. Her bloody hand slipped. She fell backward through the air. As she fell, the blinded, thrashing monster swung one of its massive, heavy front legs blindly through the space. The thick, tree-trunk-sized leg covered in sharp white bone hit Elara square in the chest in mid-air. It was like being hit by a swinging battering ram. The sound of her ribs cracking was loud and sharp. Elara was swatted out of the air like a t

The massive hangar bay was completely silent for one second. Frank Williams stood in front of the deep, dark hole he had just punched through the solid steel floor. He pointed his glowing left arm at the giant, house-sized spider-monster. The blue and gold magical energy crackled loudly in the quiet room. The Apex Predator stared at the boy. Its one remaining crimson eye burned with mindless, ancient hatred. Thick, dark fluid leaked from its other ruined eye, where Elara had stabbed it. The monster did not care that Frank was glowing. It did not care that Frank had just blown a hole in the floor. It was a predator, and it was starving. The Apex Predator let out a deafening, clicking screech. It charged. Its six massive legs, made of petrified black wood and sharp white bone, hammered against the metal floor. It moved with terrifying, impossible speed. It opened its sideways mouth wide, spinning its jagged iron teeth. Strings of highly corrosive green acid flew from its jaws, spl

The broad-shouldered man dropped his broken metal pipe to the floor. It clanged loudly in the quiet room. Kael’s eyes were wide. His face was completely pale. His jaw was trembling. Kael did not run to Frank. He did not smile. Kael dropped to his knees on the cold metal floor. He lowered his head, pressing his forehead against the dirty steel. He was bowing. But it was not a bow of respect or gratitude. It was a bow of absolute, complete, trembling submission. He was surrendering to the apex predator in the room. Behind Kael, Silas stepped out. The old man took one look at Frank, covered in glowing golden blood, and he fell to his knees as well. He began to whisper rapid, frantic prayers under his breath, shaking violently. Mrs. Gable stepped out. She saw Frank’s glowing arm and the ripped-apart corpse of the giant beast. She fell to her knees and began to sob, hiding her face in her good arm. One by one, the forty refugees of Lyrendale stepped out of the shadows. And one by one