The stench was overwhelming – burning flesh that smelled like burning plastic mixed with rotting vegetation, chemical and organic simultaneously.
Light spread across the battlefield, showing clearly for the first time just how many enemies surrounded them.
Hundreds visible in the firelight.
Thousands more suggested by movement in the fog beyond where illumination reached.
A sea of blank white eyes and knife-claws and wrong dark flesh, all pressing inward with mindless hunger.
****
"Formation breaking on the south side!"
Edrin's voice carried tactical assessment without panic.
"Alexander, we need shields there! Jonathan, air support! Cassius, their flanks are exposed!"
No one questioned Edrin's commands or how he even knew what they could do.
Clearly this smart guy had already memorized all of their abilities for tournament purposes.
Jonathan Thorne responded instantly, his golden hair and eyes blazing.
