They waited silently at the door as the last embers of the hearth died out. Light and warmth fled the house all at once, the door swung itself open, and the group rushed out together back into the city streets.

  There were no Nightmares in sight, so as they had decided beforehand, they headed in the opposite direction that most had come from. Mutombo carried the old woman on his back as he took the center of the formation, and Bryn ran beside him to lend a shoulder when it was needed. The Rhun scion's ears had transformed into the green-furred ears of a field mouse.

  Only moments had passed since they left, but a Nightmare burst out of an alley behind them in fixed pursuit.

  “It’s gaining!” Holger shouted from the back.

  “Hearth, up ahead!” Mutombo shouted with blank eyes.

  A fire-lit house entered their sights as they rounded the corner, along another group racing towards it from the opposite direction. And they were closer.

  “We’re not going to make it!” Kayla panicked.

  “Daz!” Bryn yelled.

  Without needing to be told twice, Daz conjured a fireball in his hand and threw it straight at them. Fire enveloped the two at the front and burned them alive. The ones behind lost precious moments from the shock of the horror in front of them.

  Everyone managed to run into the Hearth House just in time, and the door slammed shut, leaving the other group to scatter or be devoured by the Nightmares.

  Gilgamesh scanned the house for anything useful, but it was no different from the first.

  "Can we talk?" Bryn approached alone before he could sit down. He tactfully hesitated under Gilgamesh's silent gaze for a moment, then spoke again. "You're a Magus as well, aren't you? Those bandages are real talismans… What clan are you from?"

  "Zoraster." Gilgamesh stared at him, then answered honestly with as much feigned pride as he could muster.

  Bryn's expression twitched with unease in response. It was subtle, but not subtle enough to evade Gilgamesh's notice.

  “...does even your angel not work on those Nightmares?” He asked.

  “If it did, would I be running around like a dog?” Gilgamesh turned to him as his tone grew more hostile.

  "...My senses are quite good, but my power is echolocation. No assassin can sneak next to me undetected." Bryn revealed. "Eventually, we'll run into other Magi. I propose we cooperate, in the event that they prove hostile."

  Gilgamesh stared at him for a few moments. “As long as you prove useful.”

  Bryn nodded in agreement and headed back to join the others.

  “Scheming fox…” Gilgamesh thought. Bryn hid it well, but he was approaching this Trial in a similar manner as himself.

  Yazata were unrivalled on earth, but the Zoraster did have a weakness. Themselves. Killing one of them through an ambush was not an especially difficult task, as Gilgamesh could personally attest to. The Rhun scion had perfectly presented himself as an invaluable pawn for Gilgamesh to wield. That is, if he had the bloodline.

  “Still, his warg transformation must be quite weak for him to be so desperate. This is good.” Gilgamesh thought.

  Daz’s fireballs were dangerous, but hardly an insurmountable wall. Bryn was the only real potential threat to him, but if his beast form was weak in combat, then no one in this group could threaten him. At least not in a fight on his terms.

  “Are you dense?” Daz’s voice grew louder as he argued more with Mutombo again. “If they got to it first, we’d all be dead.”

  “You still didn’t have to burn them.” The military man asserted. “They could have had a chance to find another safe zone.”

  “This isn’t a fucking carnival. If you wanna die, do it on your own.”

  “It would be better to aim for the ground next time.” Bryn chimed in.

  “The fuck is this, the good samaritan party?” Daz’s frustration grew.

  “That’s not what I mean.” Bryn explained. “There are a lot of people stronger than us. If we get into a fight with one of them, we’ll lose.”

  "What are you talking about?" Daz questioned. "Do you know what I went through to get this Talent? How many people can do better than that?"

  Bryn paused for a moment as if to build up tension, then spoke with a more serious tone. “People have had powers long before the Tower.”

  “The Rhun, descended from Queen Gwendolen, with the power to transform into magical beasts that wield a part of nature.”

  "The Atreus, descended from Achilles and restored by the house of Agamemnon, who possess indestructible bodies."

  “The Narmer, descended from the first pharaoh, who can live on even after death.”

  “The Saba, descended from Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, holding the power to see moments ahead into the future.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “The Pandava, descended from Pandu, who can conjure unrivaled weapons and armor.”

  “The Shen, descended from the Yellow Emperor, who all possess genius intellect.”

  “And the Zoraster, descended from Zarathustra… who can summon angels”.

  “Seven Great Clans in total scattered across the world. We call those awakened with their bloodlines ‘Magi’.”

  A silence held the room.

  “Then… you must be from the Rhun?” Holger asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Bullshit…” Daz didn’t believe a single word.

  Bryn frowned. “...the whole world was teleported here and given powers by gods, and you find the Magi unbelievable?”

  Irritation and distrust still lingered in Daz, but he remained silent as he couldn’t refute the logic.

  “So what, you’re saying you're special or something?” Kayla asked pointedly.

  “...I’m saying there are a lot of people with great powers. You might have powers of your own now too, but we Magi are far more experienced with magic and mysticism… We can’t afford to act carelessly.” Bryn reasoned.

  “Wait, did you know this was going to happen?!” Kayla yelled.

  “Of course not… It still doesn’t feel real, even now. But it probably is, so we should treat it as such.” Bryn said. “I’m not interested in learning what happens after someone turns into one of those things.”

  “Oi…” Daz turned to Gilgamesh. “You’re from one of these magic clans too, right? That’s why you’re so fucking arrogant. Which one?”

  “Insolent filth…” Gilgamesh glared.

  “Fucking bastard!” Daz rushed him, but Mutombo got in the way again.

  “Stop it.” Bryn said.

  "Fuck that! He needs to tell us what he is!"

  “He’s a Zoraster!” Bryn shouted. “There, problem solved. Look, that hearth is going to go out like the first one. Each trip is going to get tougher and tougher. We can’t afford to lose focus.”

  Daz lingered with erratic energy for a few moments, but backed off just as he did before. Just as Gilgamesh knew he would. It had not been long since this group formed, but he had observed them well enough. Observed their personalities, their habits, what they were capable of. Everything he could use to raise his chances of survival, if it was ever needed.

  Tensions were already high, but this was far from the worst. True desperation had not seeped into any of them yet, nor had true hunger. But when it inevitably did, he would be ready to pull them down and step over their corpses.

  ---

  The hearth fire died out and the group left their second house, employing the same strategy as before. Of the others, Gilgamesh could confidently say Mutombo was by far the fittest in body and mentality. He carried that deadweight without complaint and showed no sign that he would crumble under the stress of peril.

  Bryn was not far behind. He feigned a lack of physical ability well, but it could not fool Gilgamesh. The level of consistency and control in his movements did not match the labored breaths he made a show of.

  A schemer was more of a threat than a hotheaded fool with a bit of power, but he was not Gilgamesh's equal in cunning. The scion of Rheged likely planned to maintain this facade until he encountered another member of his clan, but Gilgamesh did not plan to give him that long.

  “The only problems are Bryn and the fool.” Gilgamesh thought. “If I take those two out, Mutombo will protest but he will fall in line eventually. I need to find a weapon on this trip.”

  “Hearth up ahead. Look alive.” Mutombo sounded off.

  However, the moment it came into sight, another group claimed it. Bryn urged them to continue on without pause and soon they found another.

  Daz hurled a fireball at the group that competed with them for it, but this time his attack was blocked by a translucent wall of mana, forcing them to watch as a second hearth house was claimed.

  “Shit!” Daz cursed.

  “Stay focused.” Bryn implored them all.

  “Nightmare ahead. Turn back.” Mutombo warned.

  “No good, there’s one coming up here!” Daz shouted. “We’re cornered!”

  Bryn glanced around frantically. “The alley! Get to the next street!” He pointed out the solution that Gilgamesh had long found.

  Gilgamesh initially intended to move in the middle as he always did, but something among the wooden crates and boards caught his eye. Carefully, he slowed his speed enough to subtly drift behind to the back of the line.

  One by one, they all made it out of the alley with Gilgamesh bringing up the rear. The Nightmares were not so close that they needed to panic, but they were slowly gaining.

  “Hearth house! All clear!” Mutombo shouted.

  The others increased their speed at the sight of hope, and Gilgamesh positioned himself just between the woman and the portly man as the slowest of the group.

  “Just a bit further!” Bryn shouted, just as his eyes caught sight of the Nightmare lurking right around the corner.

  Bryn jumped back on reflex to avoid the Nightmare's grasping reach, but that made him bump into Mutombo. Mutombo rolled to the side as he fell, just barely enough to spare the old woman from taking the brunt of the fall.

  Gilgamesh watched the man rise upright as he sped past, but Mutombo now ran with a limp, and that hobbled run was not nearly fast enough.

  “Drop her!” Bryn yelled back as he continued to run, guilt visible in his expression.

  But Mutombo did no such thing. Instead, he put all of his effort into running, despite the pain. But it was not enough. The Nightmare grabbed hold of his ankle to pull him in, and both he and the old woman were devoured there on the spot. Then they started to turn.

  “Idiot…” Daz said with a trace of pain and apprehension in his voice along with the arrogance. For his part, Bryn was frustrated and regretful, while the other two were horrified.

  “Fool.” Gilgamesh thought coldly. “Power beyond imagination lies right in front of us, and he threw it away for nothing. Truly ‘unworthy’.”

  All of the other five made it inside the Hearth House and Bryn slammed the door shut.

  “Shit.” Daz cursed again. “That was our guide. What are we supposed to do now?”

  “...We should take the time we have to figure out a new strategy.” Bryn proposed, as he reoriented himself.

  Gilgamesh did not stay to hear what that would entail. He simply walked to the other side of the room. Irritation flared in Daz's face but Bryn stopped him before he could act.

  “Don’t.” Bryn quietly warned. “The Zoraster are the most powerful clan among the magi by far. All of us together don’t stand a chance against his angel.”

  Daz clicked his teeth as he backed off. But Bryn subtly glanced back at Gilgamesh before he joined the rest of the group to discuss their next move.

  None of this was any concern to Gilgamesh. With his back to them, he pulled out the long construction nail he had been hiding up his sleeve. It was the very thing that caught his eye in the alley. A slim chunk of iron about 5 inches in length. The tip was hardly a match for the edge of a blade, but it was sharp enough to pierce flesh.

  Gilgamesh slipped it into his cloth belt as he took a seat against the wall, and watched them once again.