The tear-stained face of a young boy stared back at Theodora from beneath the bed of that final room. His eyes wide, and brimming with moisture. 

"It's him, sir. The sybil." She flickered her vis once more. "Definitely him."

His chest seized with panicked breath, all while he remained somehow uncanny in a strange stillness, unmoving from his spot pressed against the wall.

The maroon light of Tanhkmet's vis vanished, and the humming in the air ceased, as he set aside his shield to peer underneath the wooden frame of the bed for himself. After examining the child for a moment, he returned to his feet.

"Krion, keep watch on the hall. Junius, alert the rifles outside that the enemy isn't here, likely elsewhere in the town. Have them all positioned to defend this building, if need be."

"Aye, sir."

"Well, Belisarion… think you can get him to come out?"

Theo hesitated, unsure. She was never good with children. But the Captain of the Imperial Guard standing over her expectantly was strong motivation at least to try.

"Uh… it's okay…" she ventured. "You're safe now…"

It was the kind of thing she'd have said to children lost in crowded urban markets as she tried to reunite them with their parents. But she'd no idea if that was the right thing to say to a sibylline child, as well. She reached toward him beneath the bed, and he recoiled from the brush of her fingers.

"Uh… what's your name, there?"

The boy's sobs softened.

"…Caesos," he replied, sniffling.

"Alright, Caesos, well... it's safe, now. You can come out, and the Captain and I will keep you safe. We'll get you back to the caretakers," she said.

"No!" he screamed. "I don't wanna go back!"

She glanced back up at Tanhkmet. His expression was ashen, but unreadable beyond that.

The boy resumed sobbing in greater force.

 "Shhh, there, shhh. If you come with us, it'll be okay… the bad people won't be able to hurt you anymore. We'll protect you," she attempted once more.

"I don't want to go back… please don't make me go back."

Footsteps climbed back up the stairs, as Junius returned. He gave the captain a curt nod.

"Help me lift the bed, commander," said Tanhkmet quietly. "We can't linger here… there's no way this isn't some kind of trap. You grab him, lieutenant, and we'll get out of here."

Theo swallowed, making herself ready.

With a heave, Tanhkmet and Junius hoisted the nearest side of the bedframe aloft. Theo stepped over to scoop the boy up as gently as she could.

She expected him to scream, and try to scramble away. But he let out only a soft, defeated whimper, and made no attempt to resist. He smelled terrible, she realized, as she gathered him into her arms.

It was then she saw he was blind. His eyes milky gray, and unfocused.

"Let's move," said Tanhkmet. He slung his shield back down onto his arm once more as he made for the door. 

The child nestled further into Theo's arms as she followed the captain. His tears subdued, but did not stop.

She couldn't help but feel a sudden frustration, holding him then. 

That had been too easy, hadn't it? How was she supposed to impress Captain Tanhkmet by doing no more than just carrying a child? Where were the evil anarchists for her to tackle? And the smell on the boy was truly horrible, much worse than the average commoner, like a sewer.

"Krion, we have him," said Tanhkmet, halfway down the stairs. "Back on us." 

"What's your name, son?" Junius tried to ask the boy, as he descended behind her.

"…Caesos," he answered again, between stifled sobs.

"You're alright now, Caesos. You're safe. Can you tell me where the bad people are? The ones who took you here? Where are the people who took you from— from the city?" 

"There's no one…" the boy managed, his voice tiny and wavering.

"They're gone now, but do you know where they went? Did you hear any of their names, perhaps?" continued Junius.

"There's no one… no one took me… I came here all by myself," the boy murmured tearfully. 

The gray of his blind eyes glinted in the darkness of that musty stairway.

"And there's no one… no one left…" he said.

But his voice then was not his own. 

True silver light shimmered in his pupils, Theo saw.

"It's not safe here," that other voice breathed.

Then the shimmer left his eyes, and he fell limp in her arms.

Theo fell against the wall to keep from stumbling down the rest of the stairs, given the sudden change in balance. Stabilizing, she put her ear to his chest, and was glad to find his heartbeat.

"What the fuck was that?" said Junius.

"He's fainted," she said.

"No, I mean—"

"Not now," hissed Tanhkmet. "Out, first."

After another step, though, Theo's legs buckled.

"Steady there, lieutenant. You're pale…"

As she struggled through the last few steps before the farmhouse front door — for a split second, she found herself in the eye of the storm. With a final moment of terrible clarity.

Nebet. Nebet is in danger.

The next instant, she sensed the most malevolent and powerful presence of vis she'd ever felt before in her life.

She first thought the aura must be originating from somewhere impossibly near, given she felt it so intense. As if its wielder were standing right in front of her. 

Tanhkmet and Junius stopped dead in their tracks at the threshold. The air hummed as Tanhkmet's band of maroon flame reappeared, and he brought his shield up to a full shouldered brace, as did Junius with a two-handed sword of fire navy blue, followed by a company of other presences belonging to the guards positioned outside. Less experienced, Theo manifested her vis as well if a second later, and the interior swam in the dark-green mixture of their halos.

The two veterans shared a look, eyes wide.

Without another word, the captain darted outside. Theo followed alongside Junius and Krion, as quickly as she could. 

The soldiers of the company were entrenched in makeshift barricades around the farmhouse as prepared by Junius minutes ago. A rainbow of flaming crowns filled the square, together with the raised barrels of their rifles.

Without exception, those rifles were aimed in the direction from which they all sensed that terrible enemy. 

Towards the north. The direction of Atum-Ra. 

Towards an enemy apparently still so far away as to remain unseen. Theo was blanketed in cold fear as she realized the sheer power necessary to exude a presence like that at such distance.

Every veteran in the courtyard held their breath, all together feeling the same strange pause. Like the spreading cracks of a dam, seconds before failure.

Theo saw her love Nebet in her mind's eye, then, one last time. 

An instant before the whole of the sky was white and burning and painfully, unbearably bright.