"Who are you?" Serge's voice rises above the chaos as my eyes struggle to adjust to the blackout.

"Where are they?" Someone else shouts.

I saw them. "Six hostiles!" I shout for those who don't know what the hell is going on, and then I drop to the ground, knowing I'm a smaller target from down low and harder to spot in the dark.

"Malikah?" Raven's voice resonates close by and I grab out to catch his ankle. "What's going on?" He asks, hitting the floor beside me. I can feel his shoulder pressed against mine as a comfort but I also hear the sound of heavy boots scraping across the floors.

"Where the hell are the backup generators?"

I swallow hard, my heartbeat racing through my whole body.

The first loud pop and flash makes others in the gym yelp, but all I hear is the sound of someone whimpering before another loud pop and then nothing.

They're killing people.

With guns.

I'm a good fighter, but even a good fighter knows when they're outmatched.

"We've got to hide." I whisper to Raven.

Another pop and short flash and I can tell someone is moving our way, but whether or not they're one of us or one of them is impossible to tell.

"On your right." Raven's voice is right in my ear.

I turn my head slowly as the heavy boot stops walking right beside me. I know what guns can do, I saw the one the werewolf used to try to kill Serge, which now I'm starting to think was part of all of this too. I don't have time to think about it though. Right now it's fight or flight and I'm at least a bit more at ease knowing that I keep hearing the back gym door opening and the sound of others running and screaming. People are getting out, that's good, what's not good is there is someone right beside us.

Raven and I stop breathing, trying our best to be unseen, but the person beside us laughs and I know they know we are here. I don't have any other options now, so in a move that Reda was always a fan of doing to me, I roll to my side, kick out my feet and sweep the person right off their feet. The guy lands hard on his side, his gun going off, flashing in the space around us long enough for Raven to propel himself over me to land on top of the guy, grabbing him by the head. It only takes one quick twist and Raven's strength snaps the guy's neck.

I can't be impressed for long before I'm being tackled from behind and landing on my stomach, getting the breath knocked clean out of me. "Don't move." The person over me snaps, I'm pretty sure it's a girl by the voice, but it's so low it's hard to tell. "I'll shoot."

I feel a hand gripping for my neck and I know the gun is likely trained over me at Raven. "I'm not moving." He says, confirming my fears.

We're stuck, there's nothing to do here.

I jump at the sound of another loud pop and then a scream and thud. My stomach aches just knowing there are bodies in this room right now. People I know.

"Why are you doing this?" I choke out.

"I'm glad you asked." She says. "I need someone to carry on the message." Her grip on my neck loosens and I take a few deep breaths, trying to look back at Raven but only being able to make out his shadow. "They're liars."

"Who is?" I ask, mind working desperately to find a way out of this.

"The Custodes." She seethes, saying the word with such hatred. "They promise us that we'll all become Gods, just like the Demi when our mission here on this realm is through, but that's been a lie since the beginning." She tells me. "They have no power. They are nothing but slaves in this realm, working and dying for this realm and it's worthless inhabitants, only to die just like them, turning back to dirt and ash as if we were humans. It's not right. How many Custodes would have never left their own realms and their families behind for this if they'd known the truth?"

I tried to answer but her grip on my neck tightened back. I want to tell her that there would still be people who would want to come here. People like me. People like Raven. People who have seen what it's like to not be happy or to be less than. We want to help because it gives us purpose when there's been none. We can't be the only ones who feel that way, but then I think of all the whispers I've been hearing lately.

So many people talking about wanting to go home and that's only due to the recent dangers, not the truth. I've never held much stock in the promise of becoming a Demi God. I've never had any kind of dreams for grandeur of that kind, but as much as I hate to admit it, I'm sure that there are people here who truly did take the lure of becoming a Custode for the promise of becoming some the more in the afterlife.

She said she needs someone to carry on the message.

That's this.

The message of lies and trickery that will stir even more unrest between the Custodes and the Newbs alike. How many people will want to stop their training and return home now? How many Custodes will take up arms with these rebels now? What will happen to this realm without us? We are one or we are nothing.

I know now that's the truth.

Separated we can't do what we are here to do.

But why would they want this? Why are these rebels so determined to undermine the entire mission of the Custodes that so many have already died valiantly fighting for? Who stands to gain from all of this distruction? Without the Custodes as one cohesive unit, this realm will fall. Going by the meeting we overheard, it's already started. We need to be out there, running missions, but we can't. How long does this realm even have before it comes to the brink which there is no way to pull it back from?

I want to ask so much, but the girl leans down. "You tell everyone the truth." She demands, then sits up again. "I don't think it'll take both of you to carry out my message though." She says and her body tenses.

"No!" I shout just as the flash and pop go off.

One second she's on top of me, and the next she's squealing like a wounded animal beside me, someone huge on top of her. "Wrong move." Maxum's deep voice says before I see the gun flash again, this time from his hands. "Let's go." Maxum jumps up, grabbing me by the arm but I pull away.

"Wait!" I tell him. "Raven?" I almost yell his name but then I feel his hand catch mine.

"Here." He says, his voice weird.

I pull away from Max, dropping back down and fumbling my hands over Raven in the dark. I get to his right shoulder when I feel the warm wetness there. "He's been shot." I press on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Shit." Maxum curses, feeling around beside me. "Get him up."

Raven moans as Maxum and I both shoulder Raven's weight to get him off of the mat.

"Which way?" I ask, trying to hobble the right direction.

"Left." Maxum tugs and I follow his lead.

We move slowly, still listening. The gym is huge, and with only two out of six for sure dead, we can't be too careful. We take it a couple steps at a time, not wanting to draw any attention to ourselves, but I can also feel the heat from Raven's blood seeping into my shirt. I focus on moving one foot at a time, but then I trip, barely righting myself.

Maxum takes on Raven's full weight as I straighten, reaching out to touch what I tripped on. I yank my hand back from the squishy still warm flesh. I tripped on a body. Someone's body, likely someone I've trained hand to hand with, is just lying dead on the gymnasium floor. And why? Why are they doing this? There is nothing to be gained from ruining the Custodes other than the destruction of the whole entire realm.

"We need to see." I whisper, terrified I'm going to fall right on top of someone next time. "We have to get him to medical." I'm flustered, straining my ears and eyes past their capability.

"Stones." Raven's voice is breathy and weak. "Stones." He repeats again.

At first I think he's lost his mind, or is speaking nonsense from a loss of blood, but then his green stone at his wrist lights up and I get it. The small area around us is illuminated and I see Maxum smile just before it falls and he shouts.

"Behind you!"

I spin, hand already out, unsure what I'm hitting at, and connect.

My wrist knocks into the barrel of the gun and I hear the metal clank to the ground before the man lunges at me. He's bigger, but I'm faster. I narrowly doge him, watching as he trips on the same legs I did and he tumbles to the ground on his face.

Maxum swings up the gun in his free hand and shoots the man in the back before lighting the space more with his red stone. He begins to move faster, taking the lead and I run behind Raven, watching our backs. As hard as I try though I can't get my stone to light up. I never got to do the classes or trainings on connecting with your stones, but then neither did Raven.

We rush for the doors at the back of the gym, using the light from the stones to light our path.

"Malikah." Someone coughs and we all stop. "Malikah, Maxum." More coughing. I recognize that voice. I turn and see the faint red light glowing.

"Serge." I drop to my knees at his side. "Oh, gods."

He's covered in a layer of sweat, breathing labored, and his hands covering the large dark spot in the center of his stomach. "I know it's bad." He says, his eyes barely open in slits. "Help." His voice is so weak it hurts me. I don't think I have the strength to do it but I pull him up, barely steadying him.

"Hang on." I tell him. "Both of you, just hang on." I repeat it over and over. My body feels like it might collapse under Serge's weight, but I push on. Just a few more steps until we're out of the gym.

Maxum gets to the door first and at the other side a group of Custodes with weapons and stones glowing are blazing past us, rushing into the gym.

"Malikah!" Brynlynn and Tonyedda call out, rushing to my side. "Thank the Gods you all are alright."

"Not alright." I gasp out and Tonyedda grabs Serge under the other arm, helping me at first but then she stops.

"Malikah, wait." She says, but I keep pushing through, staying behind Maxum and Raven.

"We've got to get them to medical." I bite out, but Tonyedda grabs my shoulders.

"Malikah, darling, he's gone." She says and my insides shatter. I look to my side at Serge's head flopped forward limply and I let out a cry.

"No." I shake my head, stopping to lower him down to the ground. "He can't be." My hands move to his pulse points, desperate to find anything there, but there's nothing. Serge is dead. "No." I cry again, slapping my bloody palms against the floor.

"Mali," Raven's voice is so low I almost don't hear it.

I look down at Serge's face, his eyes still half slits and I feel my tears running down my face. I reach out, closing his eyes for him for the last time.

"Go." Tonyedda urges me. "I'll stay with him."

I wipe my eyes and push from the ground, running after Maxum and Raven.

"I'm here." I say, tucking myself under Raven's other arm to help Max move faster. "I'm right here, just keep your eyes open. Stay with me."

"I'll stay." He says, his voice still so weak.

"You better."

"I'll stay." He repeats. "With you."

I bite back tears as we rush through the halls, the alarms overhead kicking into full blast, flashing lights filling The Hub again. Serge is already gone, and who knows who else, I can't lose Raven too. He just got here, and he's saved my life. I've got to save his. I can't let him die too. I won't. Not for this.

Not for anything.

One thing is for certain though, I will make sure someone pays for what has happened here today. I won't stop fighting until the end of the realm if that's what it takes. Too much damage has been done now.

It's clear now, this is war, and I'm signing up for battle.