“Ha! You’ll forge a fire pathway yet; I can see it,” Nydarth said. “For now, you are able to perform only the most basic feats. Lucky then that your enemies are not true Augmenters.”
“I have no bloody idea what you mean,” I replied. “But as soon as we get out of here, you and I are going to have a long talk about magic and orbs and whatever the hell is going on.”
I ran out of the corridor and into the courtyard of the temple, but Chugayev was nowhere to be seen. Ninjas and soldiers were fighting across the bodies of the fallen. The Russians were fighting hard but clearly losing against the mysterious foes.
I surged through the center of them with my sword raised, and a katana-wielding ninja stepped up to block my path. My opponent swung his blade in a wide arc, and I ducked beneath the flashing steel before slamming into him. He hit the ground with a thud and a gasp of air, and I continued sprinting.
Another two ninjas leapt from the walls above to block my path, but this time, I wasn’t messing around. I slashed my sword in a horizontal line, and the ninjas simply jumped back to evade the hit. The magical weapon didn’t need to make contact to inflict damage—flames burst from the blade and enveloped the two enemies in a roar of heat.
I darted past the smoldering corpses, continued through the gates, and then to the mountainside. The light of a noonday sun penetrated my eyes, and I shook off the blistering cold. I wondered how long I’d last without thermals in the freezing temperature, but the more pressing concern was still the ninjas.
An engine’s growl drew my attention, and I scanned the area before seeing a helicopter roaring to life on the landing pad. It was the same aircraft I had arrived in, and now, Russian officers and scientists were scrambling aboard as the rotors spun faster and faster.
I had to get out before the place was completely overrun. I sprinted down the mountainside, leaped across loose rocks, and slid on patches of snow. Only sheer force of will kept me from slipping on the icy scree, along with the thought of eventually being overcome by a veritable army of ninjas.
“Wait for me!” I shouted in Russian as I reached the edge of the landing pad.
The helicopter’s door slammed shut, and I felt my chances of escape start to disappear. I waved the flaming sword in the air like a beacon as I raced toward the aircraft, but the machine rose the first few feet toward the sky.
There was a whoosh and a trail of white smoke coming from the south. A rocket hit the helicopter, and my escape plan exploded in a ball of flames.
Flung back by the blast, I landed in a heap of rocks and snow. A rock bounced down the mountainside and landed beside me. At least a dozen ninjas were racing down the same route I had taken, and more were coming around the side of the mountain in a wave of black clothes and shining metal blades.
I leapt to my feet and ran. The only way was across the landing pad and past the flaming wreckage of the helicopter. At the edge of the landing pad was more snow, and I ran out across it, heading away from the facility, the fighting, and the deadly warriors pursuing me. I hated to run from a fight, but there was no way I could survive this on my own.
Fifteen feet ahead of me, the ground suddenly gave way. I skidded to a halt just before I reached the cliff’s edge. My heart pounded as I stared over the precipice into a river valley a hundred feet below.
As I turned, a lump of rock and snow fell away from beneath my right foot and tumbled into that terrible chasm. I kept my footing and raised my blade, ready to face the approaching ninjas.
They were only 10 feet away now, a semi-circle of blades gleaming in the clear air. They had me surrounded, but they kept their distance. My new sword had already roasted a few of their number—I just hoped it had enough juice to finish the job. As soon as the thought entered my mind, I realized I wouldn’t be able to use the weapon’s special ability. There was always a slight recoil when I’d shot flames from the blade, and the snow beneath my feet could give way with only a little force.
“Give us the orb,” one said, his Russian accented with something I didn’t recognize.
“Don’t do it,” Nydarth whispered in my head. “The fate of the world depends on it.”
“The orb,” the ninja insisted. “Then, we might let you live.”
“Might? I’m not sure I like the uncertainty.” I figured shit-talking would earn me a few extra precious seconds, but I couldn’t keep running my mouth—more ninjas were coming. Thirty now, closing steadily in on me, their footprints trailing out through the snow.
To resist seemed like suicide, but the fate of the world was one hell of stake to gamble on the promise of mercy from professional killers.
“Last chance,” the ninja warned, almost within striking distance. “The orb. Now.”
I raised my sword, and fire flickered along the blade. If I wasn’t a hair's breadth from death, I might have smiled at how fucking cool this thing was. The weapon suddenly thrummed, and a ring of flame exploded from around me. The ninjas were immediately vaporized, their forms reduced to ash.
My previous fears were confirmed when the snow beneath me shifted. My feet slipped as the snow tumbled, and I plummeted over the side of the cliff.
Chapter Two
As I fell, I would have liked my entire life to flash before my eyes. Instead, I was blowing out the candles on my fifth birthday cake when my body hit a crag.
My flashback was cut
