I sweep my eyes around, taking in my surroundings. This place isn’t what I expected. I imagined shattered ground seeping magma and torrents of water or unbearable winds. Instead... I see a forest to my left that's a brighter green than anything I ever imagined. More distant still, I see it's all ringed by a wall that must be two hundred feet high. The wall looks like it’s made of the elements themselves, shifting in ways that my eyes can’t quite focus on.

Did the elementals build this?

I know from classes that elementals live in cities like us with rulers, politics, and wars. But somehow it didn’t seem… real. It makes me wonder what this place is to them. The area where humans appear once a year hoping to tether with them. And what would stop elementals with a grudge from coming here to hunt for sport?

As if in response to my thought, a scream cuts through the silence, high and terrified, ending in a wet gurgle.

I spin toward the sound, automatically drawing my training rapier. It’s not much, but a having a weapon in hand makes me feel slightly better, silly as it may be.

About fifty yards down the treeline, a group of students has emerged from another point in the rift. They're scattered and disoriented, just as I was moments ago.

But they're not alone.

A massive creature prowls among them, its body a living flame in the rough shape of a wolf. It's at least three times the size of any natural wolf, its paws leaving scorched prints on the black stones. As I watch, it lunges forward, jaws closing around a screaming air affinity. His body ignites instantly, becoming nothing but ash in seconds.

Another pulls back a long spear and jabs at the wolf. His weapon dissolves in his hand.

His body follows a moment later.

We’re not meant to fight these things. We never were. If they are hunting us… Gods. We’ll stand no chance.

The remaining students scatter, some running toward the twisted forest, others plunging into the still waters of a nearby lake. The fire wolf—elemental—chooses another target, a girl. She doesn't even have time to scream.

My stomach heaves as panic, disgust, and anger war for first place. Bile burns the back of my throat, but there's no time for weakness.

They sent us into a fucking slaughter, but I’m not going to join the dead. Not today.

If I want to stay among the living—if I want a chance of finding and helping my friends through this—I need to move. Now.

I scan my surroundings, looking for any sign of Mireen, Beck, or Ambrose. Nothing. I'm completely alone, and the fire elemental is working its way methodically along the shoreline, hunting down students one by one.

How long before more elementals show up?