The demons look like spiders released from a gaping hole in their silken nest, crawling over one another, a tangle of arms and legs as their jittery bodies spill out into the courtyard. Swords and arrows and lances are all well and good, but not at the rate our enemies arrive. We’re going to drown.
The masks they don may make them appear human, but there’s no denying their monstrous hunger. Fallen soldiers are devoured without mercy. I cringe at the sound of crunching bones and blood-wet flesh.
“Fall back!” someone in the rear ranks screams.
“No!” I bellow. “Hold the line. We can’t let them get into the city.”
Even as I give my orders, I know they’ll go ignored. I can read the fear in their faces. These men weren’t trained as I was. They’ve never faced the horrors of the damned. One of them flees, thenanother. Before long, the demons push past, a rushing stream cutting through what should have been a wall.
The demons of Hell force their way through the courtyard gates. Screams rip into the air as they slaughter their way to freedom. We’re outnumbered, and those still here with me won’t be able to outlast the onslaught.
A feral demon disguised as a young woman throws herself at me, knocking me to the ground. She digs her nails into the flesh of my collarbone, licking her lips with delight.
“You look tasty,” she says with a cackle. “What a waste of a handsome face.”
I waste no time responding and slap a new mask onto my face. The moment I feel my transformation take hold—
I snap my jaws shut and devour, severing the top half of the demon’s body with my jagged rows of teeth. The remainder of her corpse slumps to the side, black blood pooling beneath it. It’s in this pool that I catch a glimpse of my reflection, my features highlighted by the silver light of the moon.
My bones continue to stretch and bend, but it’s the furthest thing from painful. In fact, it’s invigorating. I’m born again. I grow to double, triple, quadruple the size, casting almost half of the courtyard in my towering shadow. Six slanted eyes of white opal contrasting sharply with pupils of solid obsidian meet me in my reflection. My coat of fur is darker than the night sky. My claws are impressively sharp, each one curled like scythes. And behind me, nine sweeping, majestic tails that flow like war banners.
My sense of smell is heightened. My hearing is so sharp that I can hear the distant gongs signaling for the evacuation of the city. Most noticeable of all is my sight. I no longer have one pair of eyes, but three. I see the world in an array of colors I didn’t even know existed.
This must be how Yue sees the world.
Saw the world.
For a moment, I almost hear her laugh, a distinctive cackle that was always high-pitched and dry, yet was so unabashedly joyful. I regret the way I treated her when she finally learned to trust me. I thought I was doing the right thing by keeping my distance. I mistakenly believed that we were too different, she and I. Now I know—all too late—that we weren’t sword and shield, but the sharp edges of the same blade; stronger, fiercer, deadlier together than we were apart. Steel, after all, sharpens steel.
Now I will never hear her laugh again. I can never again earn one of her rare, genuine smiles. All the things I should have done and said weigh heavily on my heart.
When I see the Maskmaker rise up out of the Gates of Hell, I head straight for him. Demon, god, man, or monster—it matters not. I will hunt him to the ends of the earth for what he’s done to me. To my people.
To Yue.
I race into battle, tearing my way through the endless onslaught. He sees me and laughs as he retreats, slipping through the turmoil with ease.
“Come back here, you coward!” I growl, slashing through every demon foolish enough to stand in my way.
The Maskmaker pays me no heed, heading toward the city center. I can’t afford to lose sight of him.
Demons have forced their way past even the Jade Palace’s tall walls, laying waste to everything they see. I’ve never seen such pandemonium. The streets are crowded with citizens trying to flee, some with their things hastily thrown into carts, most with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Distraught mothers call for their lost children. An elderly man trips over his own cane andis nearly trampled underfoot. Still-warm bodies litter the narrow roads, blood dripping into the watery canals of Longhao.
People scream when they see me. Most freeze, too terrified to move, while others run as fast as they can in the opposite direction—right into the jaws of a waiting demon.
Ten. Fifty. A hundred. No matter how many demons I tear apart with my teeth, with my claws, there’s no end in sight. Even with my borrowed strength and size, I know I can’t keep this up forever. Fatigue sets in. My muscles tire and my lungs burn. Though my heart isn’t ready to surrender, my head knows this is a losing battle.
But if I don’t keep fighting—if I don’t give every last drop of my sweat and blood—then all is lost.
A terrible rumbling shakes the ground beneath me. For a moment, I fear what it could mean. Is it another wave of demons escaping from Hell? No, it sounds much closer than that. Like the stomping of large, hefty feet.
I see the threat all too late. A massive ox demon, his mask discarded. It seems he’s given up on the pretense. With alarming speed, he charges at me, throwing his full weight into the tackle. I’m slammed into the building beside me, the walls crumbling with the force. The woman and little girl who were hiding inside let out a helpless cry. The mother has a kitchen knife in her trembling hand.
“S-stay back!” she stutters. “Please, don’t hurt us!”
With a groan, I stand up on all fours, using my front paw to knock my mask askew slightly. The magic pulls away from where the paper has left my skin, exposing my true face. The woman stares at me, wide-eyed, when she realizes I’m not the threat she thought I was.
“It’s okay,” I wheeze. I think one of my ribs is cracked. “I’lldraw it away. When it’s safe to do so, take the little one and run. Stop for no one. Understand?”
