With all the soldiers packed into Llynar, it was hard for Dan and the other recruits to find a place to relax when they were allowed out. That was why they found themselves just inside the walls of Llynar one morning, standing around a metal brazier to keep warm (the weather in Llynar had been cold, despite it being spring). A few soldiers of Einar’s had joined them, and they were eagerly swapping stories and news of the war.

One of the new recruits, a kyrie from Anund barely old enough to sign up, was telling anyone who would listen about the many mysteries and theories surrounding Vydar. Having found something the others did not know – since none of them were native to Valhalla – he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

“I don’t get it,” one of Einar’s soldiers, wearing the armor of a samurai, said. “Why all this mystery? Vydar’s a Valkyrie isn’t he? The origins of the Valkyrie are well known.”

“Not all of them,” said the young kyrie, an excited gleam in his eye. “No one really knows where Utgar came from, for instance, aside from the Volcarren Prison. Even the origins of our own Vydar, no one really knows.”

The samurai laughed. “I’ll bet his origins were gone over the instant he found that wellspring of his,” he said.

The kyrie nodded. “They were. And there was precious little to find. His parents, his village, even his full name – no one knows.”

The others were silent. The kyrie looked about him, apparently pleased at the effect he was having.

“No one knows where Vydar came from,” he said. “He hails from Anund, certainly, but his father and mother seem a mystery. No one has ever seen them, let alone any brothers or sisters. A few records have him popping up in Verlin a few years before he discovered the wellspring, but before that – nothing. And when he does first appear, there’s no mention of any family, or where he came from. He just appeared one day, found a wellspring, and proclaimed himself leader of Anund.

“Oh, come on,” the samurai said. “You mean to tell me you don’t know the origins of your Valkyrie? I’m sure there’s some clue somewhere.”

“Oh, there’s plenty of clues,” the kyrie said. Dan sensed a story coming on.

“The most mysterious clue,” the kyrie said, relishing each word, “is the one they call Aer Ilisyna. No one knows who she really is, which is why they call her Ilisyna: one of mystery. There’s a lot of rumor surrounding her. All we know is that she’s been seen with Vydar multiple times, sometimes talking with him, sometimes silent by his side, sometimes just watching from the shadows. She keeps to herself, never says a word to anyone save Vydar, and slips away before anyone can get closer. Vydar refuses to speak about her, but everyone knows there’s something going on.

“Everyone agrees she must know Vydar somehow, and must be tied to a past of his we’ve never heard of. We know she’s kyrie, because we’ve seen wings. Some say she’s his lover. Some think she might be his sister, or possibly mother, since no one’s seen her face. We just don’t know, and Vydar has never spoken a word about her, or even acknowledged her existence to his guards.” The kyrie leaned back against the wall. “How’s that for a rumor?”

The samurai shook his head. “I don’t know if I could serve someone like that,” he said, “without knowing who they really are. Take Einar, for example. Every soldier of his knows his past, how he thinks, and how he operates. Nothing is hidden behind secrecy.”

“Including the rumors about Kiova?” the kyrie asked slyly.

The samurai waved his hand. “He’s entitled to some personal secrets. At least he acknowledges that the rumors exist, which is more than can be said for your Vydar by the sound of it. Say what you will, but Einar is a kyrie we can trust. He’s the one who orchestrated Utgar’s downfall, and crushed his armies at Soulrazor Canyon.”

“Maybe,” the kyrie admitted, “but that didn’t last. He didn’t foresee Valkrill bursting from the ground and taking the canyon back. He didn’t foresee Utgar marshalling all his remaining forces on the borders of Bleakwood.”

“No one could have foreseen what Valkrill would do,” the samurai said. “And as for Utgar, he’s finished. This last ploy of his is a bid for a victory which escaped him long ago. Einar has him cornered. And with the forces Jandar and Ullar are pouring into Bleakwood, he’ll be crushed the moment he sounds the charge.”

“What about his secret operation, though?” one of Vydar’s recruits, a human woman from Icaria, asked.

The samurai looked at her. “What secret operation?”

“You don’t know?” the woman said. “It’s rumored that Utgar is massing his forces in preparation of some sort of offensive. It’s a secret operation. Our spies tell us it’s called Operation Fallback.”

Dan, who had been watching the fire absently, looked up. Operation Fallback. The same one the orcs had spoken of. The same one Vydar had said he had come up with.

“Our spies can’t tell what it is exactly,” the woman continued, “only that it’s a final strike against the alliance.”

“A last ditch attempt at boosting morale,” the samurai said dismissively.

“It doesn’t sound like that,” the woman said. “From what we know, Utgar is actually intending to win the war with this operation. Not just the battle; the whole war.”

There was silence.

“It won’t be long now, either,” the woman continued. “He’s been massing on the border of Bleakwood for some time; nearly all his forces are concentrated there. If he’s going to do something, it’s going to be soon.”

“We know of his forces though,” another samurai said. “Even if they were all to cross the border at once, we have more than enough men to deal with them. With the soldiers Ullar and Jandar have sent, we could march right into the Volcarren and take Utgar’s castle if we wanted to. We will soon enough, once his army is dealt with.”

“I think it’s risky,” said a recruit from Earth. “I don’t think Jandar and Ullar should have sent so many soldiers. Aren’t they vulnerable to attack behind the lines? What if something gets through?”

“That’s fair,” the first samurai conceded. “And I think Utgar knows that, because he’s sent a ridiculous number of orc raiding parties behind our lines, probably to halt communications and raid food stores.”

“How did he get them past the front lines?”

“Ships. Not too keen on ships, orcs, but apparently the idea of ransacking villages made them board. We don’t need to worry though. Vydar’s been pulling his soulborgs from the front, and they’ve been fortifying the interior villages and cities all across Jandar’s and Ullar’s territories. No orc is going to cause any damage. Vydar’s even sent large strike forces deep into the interior to hunt the orcs down and eradicate them. Sending the orcs in was actually very stupid on Utgar’s part. He should have known we’d have the forces to stop them.”

“Maybe morale among his soldiers is lower than we thought. Maybe the orcs actually deserted.”

“Maybe,” the samurai agreed. “Either that or Utgar’s so desperate to win he’s making mistakes. Either way, it’s good for us.”

Dan listened carefully, thinking. He had known something was up with Operation Fallback when the orcs mentioned it. Vydar had said he was the one who had come up with it. But if the rumors were that Utgar had come up with it instead… then they must be in it together. And that meant Vydar was behind the forces massing on the border of Bleakwood, and thus behind the imminent attack. And that could only mean… Dan caught his breath.

Was Vydar about to betray the alliance?

The longer he thought about it, the more sense it made. He had betrayed Utgar early on, hadn’t he? What’s to say he couldn’t betray his allies a second time? Besides, everyone knew that Vydar and Ullar were at odds, since Ullar wanted Anund for himself.

Dan thought hard. If Vydar was about to betray the alliance, the troop movements actually made more sense. All of Jandar’s and Ullar’s armies were on the border of Bleakwood, well away from their wellsprings. And the samurai had just said that Vydar had sent large strike forces into the interior to eradicate the orcs. But what if they weren’t sent to eradicate the orcs? What if it was all a show? What if, when the time was right, they joined with the orcs, and took Jandar’s and Ullar’s wellsprings before anyone knew what had happened?

And the samurai had said Vydar’s soulborgs had fortified the interior villages and cities… they could easily turn and take those cities. For that matter, what if the orcs had been Vydar’s idea in the first place? What if he had sent them behind the lines, so that he would have the perfect excuse to send his men away from the fighting, and right towards the alliance’s wellpsrings when they were the most vulnerable? It was as if all of Vydar’s plan was laid bare before Dan. Everything was too perfect to be a coincidence.

A moment later, Dan realized something else. What he had found out was valuable. Any Valkyrie, alliance or otherwise, would be glad to know it. Perhaps glad enough to summon Heleer in return. But the Valkyrie to whom the information was the most important would be Vydar himself. Dan knew that if Vydar’s plan got out before the time was right, everything would be ruined. Vydar could not afford to let that happen.

An evil grin slowly spread across Dan’s face. He had leverage. With the information he had, he could force Vydar to summon Heleer. He could almost taste his freedom.

During the last weeks of Dan’s training, Llynar began to change. Dan spent most of his time in the barracks or on the enclosed training field, but he and the other recruits were allowed to visit the rest of Llynar briefly, usually one day out of each week. On those days, Dan noticed a difference.

Dan gathered that Llynar had once been a typical kyrie settlement, home to three or four clans of kyrie, whose ancestors had lived in or around the village for centuries. When Llynar had been threatened by orcs, many of those families had left for the safety of Montfre, but now that the war was nearly over, they were returning. This meant that Llynar was usually alive with noise and bustle as homes were rebuilt and children ran through the streets, laughing.

During the last weeks of his training however, Dan noticed that the streets of Llynar were usually clogged with soldiers, as were the unused barracks. And they weren’t all Vydar’s soldiers either. Most were from Jandar and Ullar, with a smattering from Einar. They never stayed long, the companies only pausing the night to eat and rest, and then moving out early the next morning.

Dan and the other recruits gathered what they could about what was going on. It seemed that Utgar was massing what was left of his forces, and Jandar and Ullar were moving all of their armies south to counter the growing threat. Many of the soldiers passing through were excited, knowing that this could be the final battle of the war.

Despite himself, Dan found their excitement contagious. He didn’t care who won the war, but its end could mean only one thing: he would be reunited with Heleer. He could keep his anger at Vydar in check with that prospect in sight.

Not even being assigned guard duty again could dampen Dan’s spirits. As night fell, he scanned the hills surrounding Llynar eagerly, knowing that he would soon be cresting them on his way back to Montfre, and Heleer. When he could no longer make out the trees on the hills, Dan turned his attention instead to the stars overhead, now the brightest thing in the blackness of the night.

“Hello, Dan.”

Dan turned. It was Maren. He nodded in reply, but quickly looked back at the stars. He didn’t want to look down at Llynar or at the wall he was on. He squinted at the tiny pinpricks of light above him. Heleer was out there somewhere, on some far distant planet.

Dan wondered if any of the stars he saw were actually planets. One looked suspiciously red, like the Mars some of the humans from Earth had mentioned. Was Heleer there?

“Do you think that’s a planet, Maren?” Dan asked, pointing to it. There was no reply. “Maren?” Dan looked down.

Maren wasn’t looking at the sky, but was rather looking down at Llynar, spread out from the high wall like a highly detailed map. He looked entirely absorbed in something.

“What are you looking at?” Dan asked. He saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“What?” Maren seemed to have only just heard Dan. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

“I was – What were you looking at?” Dan asked.

“Nothing,” Maren said. “Just thinking.”

But something was different. Dan could hear it Maren’s voice. It wasn’t filled with longing like it had been the last time they had spoken. His words weren’t etched with bitter disappointment. Instead, he sounded excited. Dan supposed that made sense. “Excited for the end of the war?” he guessed.

“I suppose,” Marren said absently, looking again at Llynar, his eyes darting from house to house. “It will be good for Valhalla. I won’t return to Joren right away though. I want to stay here for awhile.”

“What?” Dan said before he could stop himself. “I thought you hated it here!”

Maren nodded. “I did,” he said. He turned a grinning countenance to Dan. “Remember how I said I needed to repair the damage I had caused, and convince those I had spoken to that I had been wrong?”

Dan nodded slowly. “You said you didn’t understand why Vydar had put you here, where you were no use to him.”

Maren shook his head, the grin still in place. “I can be of use to him here. That’s why he made me join the war, Dan. It never occured to me that Vydar’s army held so many who had heard my words. His ranks are full of those who are eager to leave or betray him.”

Unsure what to say, Dan remained silent.

“Even here, in Llynar,” Maren said, “there are many who distrust Vydar. I can convince them. I know I can.” He turned to Llynar again, his excited countenance scanning each street, as if hoping willing victims of his words would appear out of the trodden dirt.

Slowly, Dan’s excitement began to slip away. He wouldn’t have called Maren a friend, but they had shared a dislike of the war Vydar had thrust them into. Now that was gone.

“It was Carr,” Marren said, still watching Llynar. “He must have sensed what I was thinking. Or maybe Vydar told him. That must be it! Carr came to me and told me that maybe Vydar drafted me so that I could continue repairing what I had done, not to stop it. He told me there were plenty within Vydar’s army, even here in Llynar, who dislike him, and some who even want to see him lose this war. It’s obvious. How could I have thought I could fix the damage I had caused only from Joren?”

Dan looked away from Maren, back at the endless sky above him. Somehow, he felt more alone than when he had first arrived at Llynar.

Over the next three days, Dan’s Flight was assigned durable black and gray uniforms, and equipment such as water canteens and travel packs. They were taught the basics of how to drill, and what duties they had while they were at Llynar. And then the training began in earnest.

Dan had been expecting some sort of combat training, but the entire first week was spent inside. First everyone in the Flight was assigned a weapon. They all seemed to have similar non-military backgrounds (Dan remembered what Aviir had said about Vydar summoning more than soldiers), so they were all issued what Dan was informed was a ‘Standard SC-4 Pistol’.

Dan was taught how the pistol could wound or kill at a great distance, and how to disassemble, clean, and repair it on his own. He was taught how it worked, by absorbing and storing solar and thermal energy, which it used to fire a burst of high-energy particles. It didn’t make much sense to Dan, but he gathered that as long as it was charged, he could use it. It needed heat or sunlight to charge, so any dark or cold place meant he would have to use it sparingly.

The company was taught how to report and salute, and they were drilled, which as far as Dan could tell, meant moving back and forth with as much difficulty as possible. They would run. They would march. They would even crawl. They would carry their weapons. They would carry their packs full of heavy supplies. The variations never seemed to cease.

That was why Dan was thankful when they did the last thing he had expected: sit down in a classroom.

During the first week of training, they were taught about Valhalla’s history, so that they would better understand the land they were fighting on, and the people who inhabited it. The whole Flight got a shock at their first class: the instructor, a man with dark brown skin and a bald head – save for a long black ponytail – introduced himself as Carr, and waved at them in greeting from the front of the classroom. As he did, they were able to see that he was missing a hand.

Dan had to look twice. There was just nothing there. Carr’s left hand and a good portion of his lower arm were gone, the remaining stump hidden by a metal cap. The Flight had mixed reactions. Some, like Dan, were simply shocked. Dan’s arms had been replaced with gloves; he couldn’t imagine having nothing at all. Others looked sickened at the sight, a few even turning away and closing their eyes. Some seemed impressed, a reaction Dan found odd.  

Several of the recruits asked how Carr had lost his hand. Dan himself was a bit curious.

Carr smiled. “Every new Flight which comes through here asks me the same question,” he said. “I’ve answered it every time; at some point I’ll get smart and just write it down and nail it to the wall.

“It was…” He thought for a moment. “It was six years ago. I know some of you are expecting a heroic tale of how I staved off an entire orc army while a city was evacuated. Well that happened.” The man paused. “But that’s not how I lost my hand.”

A few of the recruits laughed.

Carr smiled. “No, we were massing at Anund’s southern border, trying to keep Utgar’s forces from sweeping north into Montfre. We both had massive armies, and we had both just been sitting there, staring at each other across a field for about five days. It was incredibly boring.

“Anyway, we used to take potshots at each other, mostly to keep ourselves awake. We were too far apart to actually hit much of anything. But one day, for some reason, one of Utgar’s soulborgs thought it would be a great idea lob an explosive round in our direction and see if it could hit anything.

“Well, it didn’t. It went far enough, but for all that effort, it did nothing but hit a mound of dirt. The only problem was that I was about five yards away. I got blasted by a bunch of shrapnel, and apparently my hand took a shade too much, because when I woke up later in the healing ward, it was gone.”

Carr looked at the recruits with the air of one having just related a thrilling tale of daring adventure. Some of the recruits smiled; most looked unsure how they should react. Dan himself was puzzled by Carr: he had lost a hand, and much of his arm. How could he tell the tale in such a dismissive manner? Dan had lost little more than some sensation in his fingers, and it had taken him months to learn how to live without it. He couldn’t comprehend living with only one hand. But Carr seemed fine with it, even at home with the change.

Dan shook his head as the class began. The people of this Valhalla were a strange lot.

Dan’s combat training began with the fourth week. He was taught about the different weapons present on Valhalla, the kinds of injuries they caused and how to treat them, how to stay hidden, how to aim and fire his SC-4 Pistol, and a host of other topics which left Dan more bewildered than anything else. The whole Flight also did more drilling than they had before, and though Dan couldn’t imagine how, it was more rigorous than ever. At the end of each day, Dan could do little more than collapse onto his low bed and let his sore muscles relax.

During this time, the first hints of anger Dan had felt towards Vydar and his war grew. He hadn’t signed up for any of this. All he wanted was to be with Heleer, and have no walls. He had no interest in this war, and the fact that Vydar was forcing him to train for it made him angry. It didn’t help that he could clearly see the green hills beyond the walls of Llynar, taunting him, tantalizing him with their hints of what could be beyond. That’s where he should be, not stuck in this mudhole of painful training.

When the training began, Dan had told himself that he could be patient. If this was what it took for Vydar to finally listen to him, then he could do it. But now he was changing his mind. The training was too hard. He thought he could get through it if he believed in what he was training for, but the fact that he didn’t only made it worse. Anything would be preferable to this. Even Isadora. At least Heleer was there.

By the end of the fourth week, Dan’s mind was made up. He wasn’t going to take any more of the training, any more of the war, any more of Vydar. He was going to leave. Aviir had said there were other Valkyrie, hadn’t she? Maybe they would listen to Dan. In fact, Vydar’s enemies might be perfectly willing to summon one person for Dan if he joined them instead of Vydar.

His mind made up, Dan rolled silently from his bed one night, and crouched on the floor. He grabbed his gear, including his pistol, pack, and heavy boots, and crept between the beds until he reached the end of the barracks. He gently opened the door in the darkness, and slipped out, quietly closing it behind him.

There were several barracks within Llynar, and they all housed various Flights. Dan froze as he heard the door to one of the other barracks open, and then softly close. He could make out a dark shape in the night, crouching by the door two barracks away. Dan quickly slipped into the shadows of his own barracks.

The figure fumbled with its pack for a moment, then hoisted it on its back. Then, moving silently as they had all been taught, the figure moved from shadowy barracks to shadowy barracks, heading for Llynar’s main gate. Dan watched. Perhaps he wasn’t the only one with escape in mind tonight.

Dan followed carefully, keeping to the shadows, not wanting to alert either the guards or the figure ahead of him. The figure slipped from the shadows of the last barracks and dashed to the gate, and Dan had a momentary view of it. It was Etta, a human woman from Earth. Dan couldn’t understand why she would want to escape. She had thrown herself into the training with unnatural zeal. If it was too much for her, then what chance did the rest of them have?

Dan paused in the shadows as Etta fumbled with the small door set into the main gate. He heard a click; she had gotten it open. He was just preparing to dash over to her before she slipped out and closed the door behind her, when two figures dropped from the sky and grabbed her.

Dan saw the black armor: kyrie of Vydar. Etta struggled, but they held her tight. One kicked the half-open door shut again, and together they half-marched half-pulled Etta across the field to the first bunker, which was reserved for officers and administrators.

Dan watched her go. There wasn’t really anything he could do besides outright attacking Vydar’s soldiers, and he didn’t want to limit his options that much quite yet. Plus, he doubted he would ever get out of Llynar if he did that. Then again, would the same thing happen to him? He glanced towards the dark sky, full of brilliant stars, more than Dan had ever seen. Were there more kyrie up there, watching to make sure no one else escaped?

Dan couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t be reunited with Heleer from a prison cell, which was where he was sure Vydar would put him if he tried to escape. He sighed. He would have to get through the training, get out of Llynar, and then, once he was out in the open, perhaps on the front with the other side conveniently close… perhaps then he could escape Vydar. But for now, he would have to wait.

Treading silently, Dan crept back to his bunker.

They arrived at Llynar just as the sun was setting. The terrain they had crossed had been so empty that Dan had been expecting a small village with only a few houses. However, Llynar was anything but that. It might have been a small village once, but the first thing Dan noticed was that it had thick stone walls surrounding it, complete with guard towers and a metal gate. Several long, low gray buildings were pushed up against one interior side of the wall, and Dan guessed they must be bunkers for soldiers. Pinpricks of light were scattered throughout the village, some flickering like torches, some steady, more akin to the soulborg lights Dan was used to.

Llynar was situated in a deep valley, and Dan was able to look down into it as they crested the top of a hill and proceeded down the slope towards the metal gate. So this was it then. This was where he would be ‘trained’.

The gate opened and the carts rolled under the wall. The hills on all sides cut off the sunlight, and the high walls of the village lent extra darkness to the long shadows. Everything was dark, lit only by blazing torches on the walls and the lights held by kyrie guards. At first, Dan felt as though he was descending into a deep, dark hole, and that he had seen his last of Valhalla’s open sky.

But then they passed through the gate and into the village, and the atmosphere changed. Houses were crowded right up to the wall, and each had windows full of warming light, spilling onto the dirt road winding between them. A cool night breeze played between the houses and down the streets, causing the torches on the wall surrounding the village to dance and jump, casting flickering shadows.

They continued down the dirt road, the carts rumbling between the houses, heading for the barracks Dan had spotted earlier. A smell met Dan, one he had only smelled in the SR Unit. It was the smell of freshly baked bread, and it was fuller and more varied than the SR Unit had ever made it. Dan could practically taste the bread on the air.

As they moved past more houses, Dan saw other carts, not unlike the one he sat in, parked motionless beside houses. As he watched, kyrie and humans unloaded the carts, bringing boxes and sacks into the houses.

“Moving back in,” one of the recruits next to Dan said, seeing what he was watching. “Now that the war is near over and Llynar is safe, those who evacuated are returning.”

As Dan watched, a young girl, barely more than three, ran out of the house, laughing as her mother tried to catch her. He smiled despite himself. Maybe waiting for Heleer wouldn’t be so bad after all.  

“Name?”

“Dan Beorm.”

“Age?”

“I don’t know.”

The kyrie glanced at him. “How can you not know?”

Dan shrugged. “The soulborgs never told me.”

“Have a soulborg check his age,” the kyrie said to a human seated behind a desk. The man made a note on his paper.

The kyrie looked back at Dan. “Do you possess any abilities out of the ordinary relevant to the war?”

Dan immediately thought of his gloves, but he remembered what NT9 had said. “No,” he said firmly.

The man consulted his paper. “R Flight,” he said. “Bunker 4.”

The kyrie pointed to a group of recruits standing a distance away. “That’s your flight,” he said. “Join them. Your commander will escort you to the proper bunker shortly.”

Dan went where the kyrie had directed, and joined the others assigned to R Flight. The spot he had left was immediately taken by the next recruit in line.

After arriving at the bunkers, several kyrie soldiers had come out and hustled them out of the carts and into the first bunker. It seemed to be a headquarters. They had all lined up in front of a desk, and were now in the process of being sorted into ‘Flights’. The Flight Dan had been assigned already had almost twenty other recruits in it, all of them humans.

Dan watched a few of them. Some were silent, but most were talking with each other, asking where they were from or what had happened before they had been summoned.

“I’m from Earth,” one man directly in front of Dan was saying. “2256. Great year, aside from the war. The East coast is finally clear of the virus. I was able to buy up a lot of land when it was cheap and contaminated, and now that it’s clear, I’m going to start building. I have a great plot, huge, just waiting for the—”

“I’m not a traitor!”

The bunker fell silent, and most everyone, including Dan, turned. At the desk where Dan had been questioned, a kyrie was struggling with two guards, who had his arms pinned behind his back.

“Let go!” the kyrie said.

“Maren Ivenl,” said the same kyrie who had questioned Dan. He was sitting calmly behind his desk as the three kyrie struggled before him. “Vydar may have seen fit to let you roam free – gods know why – but that does not mean your name is cleared. Everyone knows who you are. You are a traitor to Vydar and an instigator of his enemies.” He nodded to the two guards. “Take him away.”

“I have papers,” Maren gasped, pulling one arm free. He plunged them inside his vest before he could be stopped and pulled out a tightly rolled piece of paper. “Papers from Vydar himself. I’m to join his army.” He threw the small roll onto the desk.

No one spoke. The kyrie at the desk quickly unrolled the paper and scanned it.

“Release him,” he said a moment later.

The guards let go of Maren and stepped away.

The kyrie re-rolled the paper silently, considering Maren through narrowed eyes. “Why Vydar would want a traitor in his army is beyond me, but neither is it for me to question.” He glared at Maren a moment longer. “B Flight,” he said evenly.

Maren ruffled his wings – the feathers had gotten bent as the guards held him – and moved quickly towards B Flight, which was composed entirely of kyrie. Dan couldn’t help but notice that they drew away as he approached, and many turned their backs on him.

Maren stood by himself, his eyes downcast, his dark wings drooping slightly. As Dan watched, he glanced at the door briefly, before returning his eyes to the ground.

‘At least I’m not the only one who isn’t in this war by choice,’ Dan thought to himself.

Aviir had fortunately told Dan about the majority of the races present on Valhalla, and how to recognize them. She had told him about kyrie and humans, but also about elves, vipers, dragons, soulborgs, marro, and orcs, among others. This was the only reason Dan knew what he was looking at, and knew also to instantly drop flat to the ground before he was seen.

The party of orcs below was large. Much larger than the group of carts Dan was with. He guessed they would be outnumbered nearly two to one, and if everything Aviir had said about orcs was true, Dan knew that was not a situation he wanted to be in.

He thought fast. The orcs were moving away from the hill, and away from the carts. But Dan could see the trail the carts would follow, and it crossed directly in front of where the orcs were headed. Aside from the hills, the landscape was a flat grassy plain. There was no way the orcs wouldn’t see them if they rounded the hill.

Pushing with his hands, Dan slid a ways down the hill. Once he was sufficiently down the slope, he stood and ran down the rest of the way to the slow-moving line of carts below.

“Orcs,” he gasped to the nearest soldier. “Lots of orcs.”

The kyrie looked at him blankly for a moment, and then with one powerful downstroke of his wings, leapt to the air. He kept low, and alighted on the top of the hill in a crouch. Dan watched him from below. A moment later, the soldier returned, landing quickly on the ground and silently signaling the carts to come to a halt.

“They’re making for a canyon nearby,” he said to Dan. “They won’t see us if we stay put for a few minutes.”

“What are orcs doing here?” Dan asked. “I thought these were Vydar’s lands.”

“They are,” the soldier said. “A fact I would be more than happy to remind them of if we had more men. They’ll be reported back to Vydar once we arrive in Llynar. For now, the most we can do is wait.”

The kyrie signaled to the other two soldiers, and they flew over silently. “Scout out the orcs,” he told them. “Keep below the horizon, but try to find out why they’re here, and more importantly, how they slipped past our castles.”

The two soldiers nodded, and flew to the top of the hill, where they laid down flat against the ground as Dan had done. They inched forward until they were out of sight.

Dan waited, leaning against his cart. The remaining soldier spread the word to the occupants of the other carts. A minute passed by. Two. Three. Four.

Five minutes, and still the two soldiers hadn’t returned. Ten minutes. Dan no longer knew how long they had been gone. After what seemed like nearly an hour, the two soldiers finally appeared over the hill, flying down towards them. Dan guessed the orcs must be in the canyon by now, otherwise the kyrie would never risk being seen. They landed nearby, and Dan was able to overhear what they said to the third soldier.

“They’re moving deeper into Anund,” one of them said. “I heard one of them say they were moving on Joren.”

“Too bold,” said the third soldier. “Even for the stupidest of orcs.”

“That’s where it gets strange,” the first soldier said. “One of them was grumbling about having to move in daylight, all because of some sort of big operation Utgar has. He mentioned how a lot of Utgar’s forces are moving north, avoiding the enemy, getting into ‘position’. He was shut up pretty quickly by the leader, but we heard him say that this operation would ‘catch the alliance unaware.’ It sounded to me like these orcs are part of a much bigger strike force, getting ready to attack the alliance, possibly even Anund itself. Vydar’s got to be warned immediately.”

“I agree,” the third soldier said. “We can’t wait until we get to Llynar. Return to the Citadel and tell Vydar what you’ve seen. Tell no one else.”

“Yes sir,” the kyrie said.

“Before you go: was there anything else? Any hint of the size of the army, or the position? Anything?”

The kyrie paused, thinking. “The orc did say something… I think it must have been a code word, possibly the name for the operation.”

“What was it?”

“Fallback. He called it Operation Fallback.”

They moved out shortly afterwards, as the first soldier winged his way back to Vydar. Dan climbed back into his cart as they rolled out, the remaining two soldiers having first ascertained that the orcs were well within the canyon.

He was temporarily distracted from the sights and smells about him. Instead, he was focused on what the soldier had said: ‘Operation Fallback.’ He hadn’t given the word a second thought when he spoke to Vydar, but now things weren’t making sense. Vydar had said it was a prisoner transfer, but what could a band of orcs in the middle of Anund have to do with that?

Had Vydar lied to him? It made perfect sense that there would be prisoner transfers after all, but now that Dan thought about it, what he had overheard at the door didn’t make much sense either. Hadn’t the red kyrie said the ‘timing was critical’? Why would the timing of a prisoner transfer be critical?

Dan watched the nearest of Vydar’s soldiers marching beside the lead cart. What did it mean? The soldier had said that the orcs were moving on another village, Joren, if Dan remembered. That couldn’t have anything to do with a prisoner transfer. No, Vydar must have lied. But if that was the case… then what was Operation Fallback really about?

Dan didn’t have enough information. He was fairly certain that whatever was going on, Vydar had lied to him, and had a hand in these orcs’ appearance. Dan sat back, watching the blue sky overhead. There were no clouds, and the vastness of the sky made him suddenly feel small, in a very large and very real world. Clearly there was more to this ‘Operation Fallback’ than Dan knew. And now that he thought about it, he supposed that was as it should be. He knew very little about this war after all. There was probably a logical explanation.

Probably.

Just as he had expected, Dan didn’t have a chance to speak to Vydar next morning. He was woken by one of Vydar’s soldiers shaking him, and telling him that he needed to report to a ‘Captain Antyr’.

Groggy with sleep and hunger – “Food will be provided there, keep moving!” – Dan left his room and joined a group of other equally groggy and hungry-looking new recruits in the hall. The soldier led them all through a maze of hallways, going down stairs and through doors.

Dan woke up the instant he saw the other recruits. A good number were humans, mostly men, some women. Four were soulborgs, their dark metal plates gleaming in the early morning light streaming in from the windows. A few looked like men, but were a good foot taller than anyone else, and had faint blue lines running down their bare arms. Bringing up the rear was a single figure, hidden completely in a cloak and hood. Dan could see nothing but shadows where a face should have been, and although the cloak went all the way to the floor, Dan saw no evidence of legs beneath it. The figure just… glided. Dan tried to keep his distance.

Eventually, the soldier led them down a final flight of steps and into a truly massive room. It resembled something Dan had seen in SR once. A ‘hangar’ he thought it had been called.

It seemed long enough to fit several hundred of Dan’s old cell into, and the side walls were so far apart Dan was sure he could run flat out for a full minute before he reached the far one. The hangar was full of people – mostly humans – running from place to place, calling out to each other, or carrying crates. A few machines were spaced against the far wall, about the size of the machine Dan and Darren had flown in, though they looked nothing like it. Forming a line going down the middle of the hangar were at least a hundred strange-looking animals. They were four-footed, as high at the shoulder as Dan’s head, and covered in gray leathery skin. Most were tied to carts of some sort, and the rest were loaded with packs. Humans and kyrie milled about them, tightening straps and getting into the carts.

“Load up,” the soldier said, motioning Dan’s group to the nearest cart.

Shuffling uncertainly, the group made its way towards the line. Some of the animals snorted nervously as they approached.

“Don’t worry,” the soldier said. “Ghidan are perfectly docile. They won’t harm you unless you scare them.”

One by one, the members of Dan’s group climbed into three of the carts. They were open, with no roof, allowing Dan to take in the hangar from his seat. A different soldier landed on the cart, opened a pouch, and handed out what looked like a small rectangle of… dirt.

“It’s food,” he explained, as other recruits shared Dan’s look. “Not the best tasting, but it keeps you full for the day. Get used to it; it’s all you’ll have on the front.”

Some of the humans blanched at the word ‘front’, but most began tasting the food. Dan nibbled a small corner, and found that it tasted better than the food he had eaten all his life. He might have to eat this for days? A grin slipped onto Dan’s face as he took a bite.

A few more groups of recruits arrived, escorted by more soldiers. Soon all of the remaining carts were full, and as Dan finished chewing the last of his meal, the line started to move. The Ghidan snorted and stamped, and then settled into a plodding pace, obediently following the back of the cart in front of them. Kyrie soldiers walked alongside the carts, accompanied by several soulborgs. Slowly, they made their way out of the hangar.

Dan looked around eagerly as the hangar slid past, drinking in everything. Much of it was familiar to him from SR, but the knowledge that it was all real made it seem like he was seeing everything for the first time. In a way, he was. Soon the edge of the hangar arrived, and then they were outside.

They were in the city Dan had seen from above, on one of the streets. Kyrie and humans walked up and down the street, parting to let the long line of carts pass. A young blue sky stretched overhead, vast and unbroken, and Dan had to look away, overpowered by the feeling that there was nothing, no walls or barriers, keeping him on the ground. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought he would be this free.

Birds – another familiar creature from SR – flew through the air overhead, their joyous songs echoing out over the houses the line of carts moved past. A light breeze brought fresh air to Dan, and he wrinkled his nose, smelling tilled earth and new wood.

After a few minutes of plodding along the streets, the line came to a thick gate set in the exterior wall Dan had seen. The gate opened, and the line went through, heading straight for the low green hills Dan had seen. His excitement grew with every step.

As Dan’s cart rumbled through the gate, he saw that the towers of the wall looked old. The stone was broken and crumbling in places. But everywhere, he saw scaffolding, and men and kyrie were hard at work, replacing the old stone with freshly cut blocks. They weren’t grim-faced as they worked, as if preparing for an invasion. Rather, Dan saw many of them smiling, and a few even joked and laughed as they lifted the stones.

Then they were outside of the gate, and there were truly no walls. Dan clutched the sides of cart – the only solid thing in an ocean of waving grass – as he stared into the unbroken blueness of the sky, allowing the feeling that he would fall into it to envelop him. All about the line of carts, birds sang, soldiers talked, and the smell of new grass permeated the air.

Surely this, this was true freedom. Dan could stay like this forever.

Large portions of the line of carts broke off every now and then, going in different directions and taking some of the soldiers and soulborgs with them. Soon Dan’s cart was one of these groups. His and five other carts split off from the long line, along with three soldiers. No soulborgs accompanied them. They took a well-worn path between two green hills, and soon the main line of carts was lost from sight.

Dan hopped down and followed the carts on foot. He wanted to talk to one of the soldiers.

“Where are we going?” he asked, coming up beside one.

“Llynar,” the kyrie replied. “One of Vydar’s training camps. You’re all going there, and you’ll all come out soldiers, ready to join the war.”

Dan ignored the soldier’s last words. He didn’t want anything to dampen his mood. “Can I explore a bit?” he asked. He had no intention of leaving just yet. Chances were, if he was to do whatever it took to get Heleer here, he could use all the training he could get. He merely wanted to see the hills they were passing by up close.

The soldier shrugged. “If you stay well within sight,” he said. “Keep close though. Don’t lag too far behind, and never lose sight of the carts, even for a moment.”

Dan nodded his understanding, and half-ran half-climbed up the nearest hill. It was nothing like the time he had tried to climb up the mountain in SR. He looked down, and the ground was the right distance away. He looked up, and saw that he was making progress. He couldn’t keep from smiling. It was only when he reached the top of the hill, and stood up to see the view, that he finally saw something which he didn’t like.

Nearby, just on the other side of the hill opposite the carts, was another, much larger, group of soldiers.

And they weren’t Vydar’s soldiers.

The shadows increased in length as Dan walked down the hall. The people walking by him grew fewer in number. Dan knew he had to hurry if he was to speak with Vydar.

Just a short ways down the hall, Dan found a closed door with a kyrie standing guard in front of it. Dan had no doubt this kyrie was a soldier. He wore black armor, not unlike the material Darren had worn when Dan escaped.

The kyrie wore a black helmet which covered most of his head, and a simple black breastplate covered his chest. The kyrie’s arms were clothed in the sleeves of a thick-looking dark gray shirt, and he wore tough-looking pants of the same material. He was standing perfectly still, his hands folded behind him.

“May I speak to Vydar?” Dan asked, stopping in front of him.

The guard looked down at him. Most kyrie were at least a good head taller than Dan. “Vydar is currently in a meeting,” he said. “You will have to wait.” He pointed to a row of benches on the opposite wall.

Dan glanced at the angle of light streaming through the window at the end of the hall. He had gotten good at telling time based on the position of the sun in the SR, and he judged he still had at least a good hour. He went and sat on one of the benches.

Slowly, the people stopped passing by, and the hallway grew silent. The shadows grew longer. Another kyrie soldier flew up to the guard and whispered something in his ear.

“Stay there until Vydar’s meeting is over,” the guard said to Dan, fixing him with a stern look. Dan assumed the look was meant to intimidate him, but it didn’t work, simply because he had received exactly the same look from countless others in SR, and had grown used to ignoring it. He nodded silently.

The two kyrie took off and disappeared down the main hall. Dan got more comfortable on the bench. He had time.

When the light from the window was beginning to fade and the door still hadn’t opened nor the guard returned, however, Dan was starting to worry. Aviir had said he left in the morning, and he doubted he would have time to speak to Vydar before he did so.

A single low note echoed through the halls. Dan could only assume it was the curfew Aviir had mentioned. He had to speak to Vydar now, before it got any later. He stood up. He could hardly burst through the door, but he had to do something. He hadn’t heard a sound from beyond the door; was Vydar’s meeting perhaps over? Was he even still there at all?

Not knowing what else to do, Dan crossed to the door and pressed his ear against it. He could hear muffled sounds; someone was definitely in there. Dan had just resolved to continue waiting, when he heard something which made him pause.

It was a thump. A soft thump, like a heavy sack hitting the floor. Or a rug.

… Or a body.

Dan looked at the door uncertainly. How likely was it that Vydar’s meeting had gone awry and something was actually wrong? Not very. But still, Dan needed to speak with Vydar, and he could at least use the sounds he had heard as an excuse. That was all the reason Dan needed. He placed his metal gloves on the door and pushed it open, just a crack, just enough to hear by.

“Remember to do your part,” a husky voice said. Dan jumped at the sudden volume; the door must have been muffling more than he realized. “We can’t mess Fallback up. Timing is critical.”

“Do you think I would forget?” replied a calm voice. “I’m the one who came up with Fallback in the first place.”

“You’ve ‘forgotten’ plenty in the past,” the husky voice answered. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Wait,” said the calm voice. There was silence, and then the door was flung open. Dan staggered forwards and regained his balance to find himself in a small circular room. There was only one door, and three steps in the middle of the room led to a raised portion of the floor against the opposite wall, upon which a simple wooden chair was placed. Two people were in the room: one in the chair who Dan assumed must be Vydar, and one he knew on sight to be a warrior of Utgar.

Aviir had told Dan about the different kyrie, and how those serving Utgar almost all had red skin and black leathery wings. The kyrie Dan now looked at fitted the description perfectly, right down to the snarl of anger on his face.

“What is this!” he roared at Dan. “Spying on your Valkyrie?” He took a step towards Dan. “You should be struck down where you stand for such an action!” He actually raised his fist, as if preparing to carry out his threat, but then Vydar spoke.

Vydar’s voice was the calm one Dan had heard through the door, and he instantly wondered what the plan was that he had come up with, and which this warrior of Utgar’s was in on. These thoughts didn’t last long in Dan’s mind.

“Stay your hand,” Vydar said. “This is not Utgar’s palace; you will not raise a finger against my warriors.”

The red kyrie dropped his fist, though he still looked at Dan with an expression of sinister venom.

Vydar stood. “I think we are done,” he said. “It is late. We will work out the details in the morning.” He gestured to the door.

The red kyrie turned and left without another word, closing the door behind him.

The instant the door shut, Dan turned to Vydar. “What is he doing here?” he asked.

Vydar didn’t answer right away, but looked at Dan, as if he was sizing him up. Now that he looked at it, Dan realized Vydar’s face was a striking one. His hair was long, and black stubble covered his chin, giving his whole face the appearance of being surrounded by shadow. His square jaw, steely eyes, and high cheekbones contributed to the feeling Dan had that Vydar was watching him out of narrowed eyes, as if waiting to see what he would do next. Vydar’s eyes were blue, the first blue eyes Dan had noticed, and they were dark, set back beneath Vydar’s dark brow.

“He was an emissary,” Vydar said. “A representative of Utgar. He and I are working out the details of a prisoner transfer. Why are you here?”

Dan remembered why he had come. The sight of the red kyrie had temporarily driven it from his mind.

“You summoned me, right?” he asked.

Vydar nodded.

“There’s someone else, back on Isado— back where I’m from. I want you to summon her as well.”

Vydar nodded slowly. “I see,” he said. “Unfortunately, that is something I cannot do. However, if you serve me well, I will return you to her when this war is over, as it very nearly is.”

“I don’t want to go back,” Dan said. “I never want to go back. I want her to join me here.”

Vydar watched him. “I can’t do that,” he said. “I—”

The door burst open.

“Ahe karef at halsaya!”

A kyrie, wearing the armor of a soldier, charged past Dan, but then paused, and spun back to face him.

“What are you doing here, recruit?” he rumbled.

Dan looked at him blankly.

“The curfew is in effect!” the kyrie practically shouted. “You should be in your quarters. Go!”

“I’m here to—”

“GO!”

Dan might have been used to ignoring other people, but he wasn’t used to being yelled at. He took a step back, momentarily startled.

“Return to your quarters,” the kyrie said, “or you’ll spend the night in the dungeons. Your choice.”

There was nothing for it. Dan remembered that this was all real, and that the consequences of what he did were real too. He didn’t like the sound of the dungeon; another prison was the last thing he needed. Vydar had given him his answer. There was nothing left to do here.

He turned and left the room. The sun had sunk below the horizon, leaving the hall in darkness, save for the occasional torch guttering on the wall. Dan retraced his steps, heading back towards his room.

So Vydar wouldn’t summon Heleer. Dan hadn’t really expected him to, but he had to be sure. Now that he knew, he could start figuring out how to bring her to Valhalla himself. He wouldn’t let Vydar stand in his way.

After staying in his room for four weeks, Aviir finally arrived one day to tell Dan has was free to go.

“You’re free to explore the Citadel for today, but at dusk you must return here for the night. In the morning you will leave with a convoy to begin your training. Don’t be late in returning here,” Aviir warned as Dan scrambled for the door. “Vydar has a strict curfew over the Citadel. You must be back here by dark.”

Dan nodded his understanding, but didn’t wait any longer. He had been itching to get out since he decided he wasn’t in SR. He stepped through the open doorway and set off down the hall in the same direction he had gone four weeks ago. He started out walking, but as he turned the corner, his excitement overpowered him, and he ran to the wide doors and threw them open.

The massive hall was exactly as it had been when Dan had first seen it. Humans and one or two soulborgs were walking past, here and there kyrie and humans leaned against one wall, talking quietly, and overhead kyrie flew, speeding over the milling crowd.

Dan plunged in instantly.

A barrage of faces paraded past Dan, each perfectly detailed, one after the other. The floor reverberated with the footsteps of a hundred people. Dan had very little doubt now that this was real. Part of him still didn’t want to admit it, because it meant he was further away from Heleer, but he couldn’t deny what his senses were telling him.

Dan had a plan. He had thought of it weeks ago, and now he was ready to act on it. The first step to getting back to Heleer was to go to Vydar and ask if he would do it. Dan doubted he would, but it would be stupid not to at least try. So after turning on the spot, Dan found two kyrie standing nearby, and made his way over to them.

Four weeks ago, Dan would have interrupted them without a second thought, just as he had done every time he talked to someone in SR. But now that he knew this was all real, he was having to rethink the way he approached everyone and everything. For that reason, he stood by, and waited until one of the kyrie looked up.  

“Could you tell me where Vydar’s audience chamber is?” Dan asked. Aviir had mentioned the room.

The kyrie looked at him blankly.

The female kyrie he had been speaking with took a step forwards. “I’m sorry,” she said, “he doesn’t speak any English. You want to go down this hall until it forks, take the right turn, and it’s the first big room on your left. You can’t miss it: there’s always a guard on duty in front of the door.”

Dan nodded his thanks, and rejoined the crowd, allowing himself to be swept down the hall. Soon he came to a fork as the kyrie had said, where the hall split into two, one branch continuing straight forwards, and the other making a sharp right turn. Dan turned to follow the right-hand fork, but then stopped as a ray of light struck him in the face.

It was sunlight, but Dan had never seen real sunlight. He covered his eyes with his hands, and squinting, tried to find the source of the light. He quickly spotted a shaft of brilliant light-orange light pouring from the nearest window. Wondering what was causing it, he stepped right up to the wall, and looked out.

Shock dulled all senses.

Dan had never seen the real sun. The SR Unit had included a brilliant ball of light in the sky, certainly, but apparently they had been unable to duplicate the piercing brilliance of the sun, the way its rays smote you without warning, and the way you can never look directly at it. Perhaps doing so would have simply been too bright for the SR Unit. Dan didn’t know. Neither did he care. Since he couldn’t look directly at the sun, he stared in overwhelmed wonder at everything it touched.

Dan had seen all manner of landscapes in SR, but now that he knew what he saw was real, it was like seeing it for the first time. The sun was nearing the horizon, and its slanting rays cast long shadows over the massive city spread out below Dan like a giant map. One side of the buildings was illuminated with fiery light, and the other side was dipped in the deepest of shadows. Dan could see streets laid out like spider webs, the smallest of black dots moving across those which were lit up by the sun. A wall encircled the whole of the city, and beyond that, there was… nothing. Just green hills, now dark in the hours before dusk, stretching on endlessly forever.

Dan felt like he was being sucked out of the window as he stared at the endless hills, trying to see something – anything – beyond them. And then he did: a lone dot on the horizon, flying slowly through the air. Dan decided it must be a kyrie, though there was no way to tell at this distance. The dot circled once, twice, and then dipped below the horizon, disappearing beyond the hills, leaving only the deep blue of the true sky SR could never imitate, vast and unending, stretching from horizon to horizon.

Dan gripped the edge of the window hard as he stared into the sky, partially because that old sense of being about to fall into it remained, and partially because excitement was overwhelming every part of his body.

If any doubt had remained, it was gone now: this was real. Every single pinprick of light Dan saw was real. Every little particle he touched was real. It was all real. And there were no walls. Dan could see it all. He could touch it all.

He was free.

After a few minutes, Dan realized that if the sun was setting, he didn’t have much time to find Vydar. His mind still reeling with the view he had seen, he set off down the hall, keeping an eye out for a room guarded by a kyrie.

As he walked though, a realization was beginning to form: he didn’t want to go back to Isadora. All that awaited him were gray walls and cameras. Here there was color, here there were no walls. Here he was free. He never wanted to return to Isadora. The only thing which could bring him back was Heleer, and he knew now what he would do:

He wouldn’t ask Vydar to send him back. He would ask Vydar to summon Heleer to Valhalla instead.