The dark soul pressed on her again, and before she could draw up the strength to re-form her walls, the world was thrown into chaos. People were running, sprinting, not caring what or whom they knocked over in the process. Kiran had ahold of her and was pulling her along, but she could hear children screaming, adults too. She tried to find Nazara and the others, but she was swept up in the tide of bodies now, all of them hurling themselves toward the city walls as more screams and cracks of thunder battled for supremacy.

Smoke made the air hazy, and Aurora held onto Kiran as hard as she could as they were lost to the mercy of the crowd. Eventually, the people reached the walls and there was nowhere left to go, but they continued to push and climb on each other, each vying to get as close to the city as possible.

She craned her head back to peer over her shoulder, and saw multiple streaks of skyfire strike the ground. This time, there was a burst of fire, not just smoke. The screams around her were hoarse with desperation, and bodies repeatedly slammed into her own, crushing her tightly into the people in front of her, who had nowhere to go. Kiran was shouting something at her, but she could not hear him, not over the rush of noise inside and outside her head. She had never felt such an outpouring of emotion—panic and fear and hatred and hopelessness. She felt like she might explode from the swell of it all. And all the while, that tainted soul was creeping closer and closer to her own. She could feel it, entangling itself inside her, and she wanted to be sick. She would not be the first—the stench of fear and urine and vomit was all around them, and it only worsened as the skyfire strikes grew closer and closer to the people huddling like rats for survival.

Then, finally, something shifted in the air. The crushing pressure eased, and the dark spirit she had been struggling to push away felt a little farther removed. A strangely familiar swell of power filled the air. The next strike of skyfire hit an invisible barrier above them, and shattered like a glass star.

Around her the screams turned to sobs, and the press of bodies eased, giving her room to take a deeper breath. Immediately, she went back to work on her shields, knowing she would not survive long this open and vulnerable to contact with the multitude of souls. She was not sure how much time had passed when she opened her eyes, but Kiran was still with her, even though most of the crowd had dispersed. The sky above looked a pale, innocent blue, as if it hadn’t just rained down such cruelty.