The attack came three days into training.
I'd just mastered forming water into weapons when the alarms sounded. Not alarms like fire drills, but a deep, resonant bell that made my bones ache.
"Zagrin breach," Susan said, materialising beside me. "At the university. We need to move. Now."
Vugo opened a portal with a gesture, and we tumbled through space back to Rankeda. The campus I'd thought beautiful now looked diseased. Black veins spread across buildings like infection. Students ran screaming towards dormitories. And in the centre of the main courtyard stood a creature from nightmares.
Taller than any human, with skin like rotted meat and eyes that burned red. Its mouth opened too wide, filled with teeth that belonged on sharks. Shadows leaked from it like blood from a wound, poolin
