ALCYDE
The creatures hit the wards at noon, when the sun should make them weakest but instead seems to embolden them. I'm in the armory with Billy Joe, checking ammunition counts and silver-tipped arrows, when the air pressure drops so fast my ears pop. Through the bond, Sophia's alarm floods my veins like ice water.
"They're coming through." Her voice carries across the compound, amplified by Luna magic. "The eastern border. They found a weakness."
I'm moving before conscious thought, Billy Joe right behind me, both of us grabbing weapons with practiced efficiency. The compound erupts into controlled chaos—warriors streaming toward the eastern wall, mothers herding children to the reinforced safe room beneath the mess hall, Betty organizing defensive positions with the precision of som
