White roses burned away, ashes rising in spiraling splashes torn and split by the rising flames of strained Calamity. The pale forest faded, revealing a draconic figure coated in snow-white petals, a blossom armor veiled over bladed scales. Talas stared straight at the burning Bayren. The Calamity Lord’s Jurassic frame revealed through fire: a dragon, a monster, a man, a beast, a confluence of power ignited under the judgment of Fowoz-5.

  Talas spread his wings, bronze scales consumed in that dreamy white. “Can you feel it Simon? The burning edge of the waves of fate, the dragon fire kindling deep, stripping your flesh and bone displaying your humanity bare. Isn’t it terrifying!?”

  Simon, who was clinging to Talas’s back, smiled, the warmth spreading through his chest as he wove Kyyr and scale. “I must admit it's rather intense, but—” He crawled up and stared at the demonic frame of Bayren, wreathed in ?violent flame. “It’s nothing compared to the firestorm of a Calamity Lord.”

  White petals spread over Talas’s snout, encasing his draconic features in sensitive white armor. “Hmph. Then let’s face these flames with discreet courage.”

  “With patience.” Simon said, slipping into the blossom armor.

  “As one.”

  Bayren’s visage cracked, his faux eyes shattering as he let out a mournful howl that erupted into a wild roar. Energy immolate! Ash and steam blasted from the deep-cut fractures along his body. The waves of Kyyr blasted the bellowing canopy of smoke, once more revealing the scarred eye of Fowoz looming behind Bayren.

  The Calamity Lord charged.

  Imago shining through from below, a mirror reflection cracking at the seams. Thunder, fire, groaning ice. Talas took to the skies, wings and scales rumbling as waves of Kyyr propelled the dragon through the starry background.

  Bayren skidded to a stop, the Imago’s mirror surface rippling beneath his claws as Kyyr charged into his chest. Fire gathered, his jaws parting just enough, and—a plume, a spiral, a pillar tore from his throat. Sky-splitting flames shot into the black of space, tracking the ivory-armored dragon across the void.

  White armor burned as the intense flames encroached ever closer. Talas dipped and swerved, the flames tracking him with precise, relentless turns. The dragon shot a glare at the flames. How the—?! “SIMON!”

  Bayren, still expelling flames, rushed them from below. Visage shattered, frustration overwhelmed his senses; his body literally exploded with motion, the blast carrying him skyward, body ablaze. His flames stuttered as he oriented himself toward the fleeing dragon, clawed palms boiling and—

  BOOOM!

  Bayren shot toward Talas, who dove, narrowly avoiding the flaming claws. But there was little time to recover as Bayren charged Kyyr into his talons, energy exploding against the nothing as he ricocheted midair, a violent second launch that shattered the surrounding ice. The shock wave broke the sound barrier; the sound alone causing Simon to bleed from his ears as Cythrallis struggled to mend his wounds.

  Talas panicked as he caught fleeting glances of a flaming missile, booming against the celestial ether. Bayren flew, the force of his blast shattering the surroundings as fire and sound tore across the icy landscape.

  Bayren was upon them.

  “SIMON!” Talas roared as he spun in the air, charging his draconic Kyyr. The Vileblood, still bleeding from his ears, pressed himself against Talas, flickering his Kyyr in response. Pain splitting his mind, animal instinct fraying his senses, yet even in unimaginable pain he remained focused.

  Talas reacted to Simon’s Kyyr, his brain spiraling with Kyyr calculations whirring through, a flash, a beating moment.

  THERE!

  WAVES OF STELLARIS!

  Bayren unceremoniously crashed into Talas, an ignorant star, consuming flames, lit the rose armor, and—

  BOOOOOOM!

  Colliding stars, Bayren exploded—black claws warped as he was cast away! Talas fluttered down, wings burnt, white roses struggling against the flames. The dragon flapped his tattered membranes, barely maintaining altitude as Simon’s Kyyr fought the fire with healing blossoms.

  “WE SURVIVED PAPER BOY!” Talas roared as he readjusted in the air, though his excitement was short-lived as Bayren retaliated with wrathful fire, instantly back in pursuit.

  Simon struggled to breathe, his skin burning, oxygen failing to reach his mind, as he held on with all his might, focusing his fading will into Kyyr calculations.

  “HE’S COMING BACK!” Talas roared.

  Simon pulsed his Kyyr, roses blooming defensively, their crown of petals wilting as they came. Heat exploding—Bayren’s flame consuming the sky in a waft of amber-blue gradients. Talas readied himself, flying away from the rising heat as Bayren shot up into the sky, an aurora of death, peeling at the thin atmosphere—he shot down!

  Talas rose, Kyyr rumbling to meet the collapsing star. Weaves of violent energy churned, waves of Kyyr spiraling, twisting, matching the core of a red sun. Bayren’s flame-form scratched against reality as he shot down in a beautiful display of amber, blues, and stinging magentas, a confluence of energy that met in a fiery white tip.

  Talas’s brain sprawled, the Kyyr equations spilling in endless tinges of concepts and executions.

  “STELLARIS!” Talas howled as his claws and wings met the weight of the errant star.

  SHWOOOOOOOOOOOM!

  The Dragon and the living firestorm collided in a reality-burning rive that split the earth and heaven, a nebula of esoteric energy peeling the landscape! Ice and debris fulminated in every direction, the rumbling heat cratering against the Imago, the warped rune addled as the dragon roared, his will battling against the unrelenting pressure of the Calamity Lord’s flame.

  And as fires collided, deep down in the depths, Rusk and his fellow rangers fell to their knees as a thundering earthquake shook the Nordos. Waves of imaginary fire burning against their nerves, a searing pain so brutal even the scaled Pax reeled in agony. And worst of all, somewhere in the depths of the glider, hiding in one of the panic rooms, a young Mera screamed, her eyes and skin flashing burning alarms as she felt skin peel from bone, muscle char, and eyes melt. Veladonna struggled against the heat herself, while Galene joined her daughter in screaming against the unrelenting faux fire. And amidst it all, alone—hiding in another panic room with a mechanoid Lamia sobbed miserably, crystalline shards erupting from around her defensively as she cried with no one to hear.

  Back on the exploding surface, the Imago ruptured, a mirror scar against the fire as Talas barely managed to repel the collapsing star. Bayren howled as he was sent flying back across the rune, the recoil of his attack burning at his already charred scales, his Calamity Core lurching against his soul.

  Talas coughed, his lungs burnt and itchy, yet his pain was fleeting as soft petals bloomed within and around the dragon, the soothing Kyyr quelling his nerves and healing his grievous wounds. Simon, on the other hand, could barely breathe, his skin and hair singed, his insides partially cooked, yet he held on with all his might. Cythrallis whirred, the Hy’Kyyrian caught between a nexus of hosts, siphoning all it could muster in a battle to keep Simon alive.

  Bayren roared, rising from the flames, a pair of his curved horns resting on his snout once more. His fractured visage cracked into a deranged leer.

  “S-Simon! Something is happening to Bayren!” Talas roared as he flapped away, taking to the skies as Bayren watched from below, his roaring flames calming into a subtle whisper as the Calamity Lord watched ominously.

  Simon took a painful breath, barely managing to grasp at consciousness. “A thinking hell is upon us…” He crawled up, holding onto Talas’s shoulder. “The Imago was damaged—Bayren will soon be upon us.”

  Cythrallis warbled, its voice ripping into their brains. “CLARIFY! GIVE ME A TIMELINE ON ARRIVAL?!”

  Simon looked over Talas’s shoulder, eyes struggling to open, his hands grasping white blossoms that covered his face. “If we take another hit like that, I won’t be able to hold the rune much longer, we are at a crossroads—so make peace with whatever plan you have in mind needle.”

  Cythrallis hissed, its Kyyr flaring violently as it sent a signal into the depths.

  Far below, waiting in the black vessel, one of the Diodecians began to twitch his body, rising from his seat. Muscle-bound and hollow, the alien lumbered to the access ramp. The heavy metal opened with a groan, to reveal a cacophony of ice and chaos, the city of Aeburgh shrouded in darkness and sporadic chaos as massive chunks of ice coated everything near and far. The black-void eyes of the Diodecian focused on the Nordos below, and he jumped down, his Kyyr spiking as he tore into the metal, acid spilling from his palms as he breached into the upper decks. Landing with a loud thump, rising taller than most humans, deranged eyes studied the surroundings wildly. The Diodecian, octopus-headed, took a deep, beastly breath before breaking into a thumping sprint. Above, the black glider shuddered as the other Diodecian left his seat, putting the vessel into hover mode; this other Diodecian joined his brother, jumping inside and landing with a loud crash as he put his face to the ground, his tentacles twirling as it absorbed the scents in the air. With a silent, stoic demeanor, he took off in the opposite direction.

  Not far, Pax writhed against the ground as Cythrallis updated him on Bayren’s status. He stopped, easing himself back onto his feet and stared down the hallway filled with Rusk’s scent. Pax let out a growl, caught between thoughts, Cythrallis gave little time to ponder. His talons twisted against the floor, and he took off back toward the stairs that led lower. Succumbing to Cythrallis's command, he disappeared down the dim stairway.

  Not far, Rusk and Zhenyu reached the engineering hall, spotting Lirien emerging from the opposite entrance.

  Lirien immediately pressed herself against the wall and without a word pulsed her Kyyr. Her eyes sharpened—then flickered with confusion as she searched for Pax. “No… he’s gone…”

  Rusk and Zhenyu rushed over to her dread riddled.

  “What is this…” Lirien murmured. “There are people below us—and… something else. A Diodecian? I—” She pushed herself off the wall, horror spreading across her face. “Oh no.”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “What?! What about Diodecians?” Rusk asked.

  Lirien looked at Rusk, horrified. “Pax isn’t alone… below us there was a Diodecian… and—”

  Rusk looked down, the cafeteria? “Could it be one of Jack's guards?”

  Lirien shook her head. “No… it’s definitely not one of our own.”

  “How can you tell?”

  Lirien hesitated. “There were others… crew members—now dead…”

  Rusk looked down in horror, unheard screams echoing in his mind.

  Zhenyu spoke. “So what now? If Pax isn’t following us and now there’s more hostiles—what are we supposed to do?”

  Lirien pulled away from the wall, a ghostly strand sliding back under her skin. “We go on the offensive.”

  “Huh?!” Zhenyu looked at her, shocked. “But Pax beat the shit out of us? And now he’s got a roided merman on his side.”

  Rusk ruffled his hair, thoughts screeching to a halt. “She’s right. We can’t go to the hideouts, it would reveal their location—and I think we’ve got a shot.” He pulsed Kyyr through his hand. “I can beat Pax.”

  “B-but Bayren said you overloaded your soul.” Zhenyu said, unsure.

  Rusk rested a hand against his chest. “So that’s what happened…in frusta.”

  “Yeah. When I found you by the docks you were bleeding from all sorts of weird places—if it wasn’t for Lord Bayren you would’ve died.”

  Lirien stepped toward Rusk, studying him. “ In frustra or not, I’ve heard rumors Bayren himself has trained you. If they’re true I think we have a solid shot. Though—” She leaned in slightly, her void-black eyes fixed on his. “Rumors are rumors unless they’re true.”

  Rusk gave her a guilty smile. “I’ll deal with Pax. With or without my Kyyr. I won’t let anyone hurt the girls.”

  Lirien gave a single nod. “Zhenyu, you’re with me. We’ll handle the Diodecian below.”

  “We will?” Zhenyu muttered, his eyes meeting Lirien’s cold stare. He took a deep, long breath. “Fuck, I guess we will.”

  Lirien pulled out her crystalcomm. “I’ll add you to a private channel. We might not have access to the network, but we can at least keep in touch. Rusk you should also stick with us until I get a read on Pax’s location. Once we find him, we split up.”

  “Sounds go—careful!” Rusk shouted as the deck lurched beneath them. The entire glider convulsed, metal shrieking as if wrenched apart. The lights dimmed, flared, then flickered wildly while a deep, bone-rattling tremor rolled through the engineering hall. Rusk slammed into the wall and looked up into the darkness above as dust rained from the ceiling.

  “Woah! What in the Fifteen is happening up there?!” Zhenyu yelled, staggering sideways before catching himself against the wall next to Lirien.

  “It’s Lord Bayren!” Lirien called over the groaning hull of the Starglider, its strained metal blending with the distant, thunderous rumble beyond. “Something massive is happening!”

  Rusk pressed his palm flat against the wall to steady himself, eyes fixed on the shadowed ceiling of the engineering hall. Lord Bayren…

  Above—a couple of minutes before the sudden quake—Talas and Simon watched in silence as Bayren simply stared back at them. Fire burned across his body in a shifting spectrum, amber bleeding into an eerie blue before swelling and settling again into molten orange. The Calamity Lord gained flickering awareness, his mind finally engaging and processing his situation, memories strained, a sense of self torn and twisted mirror revelation hinting at things he refused to remember. He fixed his gaze on the dragon in the sky, scales veiled in white roses as it danced against the star-strewn dark.

  Nostalgia…

  Bayren’s visage cracked as he stared at the wretched draconic shadow in the sky. Ah—the memory of that sterile place. Bayren’s chest swelled, fractures spreading as he released a deep, resonant roar. Jaws clamped shut as he drove a claw into the Imago, piercing its veiled rune-facade and plunging deep into the ice. Calamity constructs erupted from his claws, spreading like ancient roots through the frozen moon. Overwhelming Kyyr bursts from his core as Talas and Simon watched confused, as Bayren funneled his essence down his arm, pouring his everything into the icy fracture.

  “What the hell is he doing down there?” Talas asked.

  Simon strained his eyes. “I’m not quite sure!” he shouted back, eyes studying the strange stance. Bayren kept his eyeless visage on them, tracking their movements through the sky as his constructs spread like veins through kilometers of ice. Simon’s Kyyr receptors flared into a frenzy, his senses churning. His Kyyr mass—it’s—! “Shit! HE CAN USE CONSTRUCTS AGAIN!”

  “But he’s still on the Imago?!”

  “Higher! We must ascend!” Simon shouted, as he forced more Kyyr into the blooms, causing the petals to cascade downward, forming a veil of white roses that grew and withered in waves against the malicious Kyyr.

  Talas flew higher, “But what about the Imago—won’t it dissipate if we fly too high?!”

  “Trifling if we’re burned alive—no? So ascend! Ascend until I tell you to stop!” Simon barked, his focus locking onto the glowing mark on his hand.

  Talas flapped his wings, Kyyr surging them closer to the crimson-scarred giant, the cosmos encroaching all around them as the mirror reflection warped below.

  Bayren hissed, Kyyr flooding into his splintering arm, and with a guttural growl he heaved against the ice. Void muscles compressed; energy surged; scales shattered. Cracks and pops joined a thunderous, world-splitting groan from below as the mirror reflection of the Imago warped and twisted as ice began to rise. Bayren leapt with a sound-shattering explosion, his arm still burrowed in the ice elongated, calamity constructs overlapping and cracking as the Calamity Lord ascended—and with him rose not merely a mountain, but a continental wound ripped from the frozen moon. Kilometers of ancient ice sheared upward in slabs the size of cities, their undersides laced with veiny black construct that spread like veins through a corpse. The mass climbed behind him like rising tectonic plates wrenched from their crust, trailing debris, vapor, and spiraling shards that caught the starlight.

  From above, Talas watched in stunned silence as kilometers of ice shelves tore free from the firma gelus. A glacial mountain chain rose with Bayren, continent-scale slabs grinding upward as if the moon’s own tectonic spine had inverted to strike Fowoz’s judgment! Kyyr surged into Bayren’s throat as he climbed against physics itself, logic buckling, gravity twisting around his unnatural pull.

  Two words spilled from his burning maw—nonsense to the tethered, yet deeply wrong to Simon and Talas. The sound struck their ears with uncanny weight, as though entropy itself had tried to pronounce them.

  Continental Constellation…

  “Huh?” Talas managed, as he ascended. “Constellation? What does th—”

  “WATCH OUT!” Simon shouted.

  VWOOOOOOOOOOM!

  A mountain-sized mass of ice screamed past them, shattering from within with a surge of sudden energy. Icy debris scattered in every direction, the rays reflecting from the local sun spreading the light in a magnificent, dazzling display that melded with the cosmos.

  “TALAS!” Simon shouted, forcing the dragon to look down, slit-eyes wide to find hundreds, no thousands of colossal chunks of ice, each the size of mountains, hurtling across the sky. Every piece blazed with dazzling Kyyr, leaving streaks of frostfire in their wake. Talas folded his wings and dove, swerving between the tumbling masses. Ice detonated at random intervals, shockwaves rippling outward in roaring bursts of Kyyr. A chorus gravis, a hoarfrost roar of thundering energy overlapping into a shatter burst aurora! A rainbow against the black of space—a constellation of gelation!

  The frigid landscape rumbled as a gaping abyss tore open from the depths, ripped clean from the moon’s frozen foundation. Only the shattered Imago remained, drifting in the aimless void where Bayren had landed. His jaws twitched, energy spiking as he tracked the dragon weaving through the sky.

  Exploding ice rained across the landscape in sweeping sheets, a descending blizzard drawn inward by the spiraling pull of the Calamity Entity. Heat rolled off him in suffocating waves, melting falling shards midair and transforming the storm into a churning column of steam. Clouds forged from Kyyr thickened and darkened, swelling into thunderheads. Rain and snow collided and fused, devouring the sky in a violent confluence. Thunder rumbled, lightning spiraled through the vapor as something vast began to take shape within the howling wreckage of twisting ice. Visibility collapsed. Winds screamed. Simon and Talas were caught in the surge, swept sideways by the violent upheaval as the cataclysm gathered form.

  Bayren consumed in grey, stared into the white void, jaws fractured and a single word spilled out with a coarse, vindictive roll.

  “Regression.”

  Winds howled, a roar against the frosted plight, a whisper, a revolting surge! Kyyr twisted, screaming against the violation of time and space. Talas and Simon braced themselves against the churning entropy, spreading photons collapsing backwards through time as light folded in upon itself, energy tearing through the Dragon and the Vileblood alike. Ice ripped into scale and flesh, rain and snow fusing back into sky-bound glaciers.

  “SIMON HOLD ON!” Talas roared, his wings vibrating in violent surges as he angled downward, preparing to crash into the ice just as the colossal masses Bayren had hurled reformed in the heavens! Visibility returned, judgment's gaze pressing upon them meters from the newfound abyss. Talas spread his wings wide, catching the turbulent air to steady himself. He looked up and was filled with awe as he stared at the continental ice mass ominously ascending.

  Bayren’s monstrous gaze snapped toward Talas. The Calamity Lord growled, releasing his Kyyr, allowing gravity to take hold of the vast glacial mass. A wind-torn howl rolled from the collapsing mountain as it tipped into free fall, plunging toward Bayren, Simon, and Talas.

  Flames ignited from the void-scaled monster as he shot toward Talas. The rippling energy rocked Simon violently, slamming his head against Talas’s scales. The Vileblood felt his brain kiss his skull, the energy stinging as his Kyyr fought the rupturing cells, struggling for consciousness as the infernal beast missed them by the narrowest margin. Blossoms ignited and withered as Talas surged upward, driving straight toward the descending mountain of ice. Below them, the trailing Imago reflected both the falling colossus and the hateful fire hunting them.

  “HOLY VIVANT FUCK!” Talas snarled as he vibrated his body, Kyyr rippled in waves as he met the ice, and with a painful plunge began burrowing upward through the crashing glacier.

  FWOOOM!

  Below rising flames licked at the dragon as Bayren tore behind them in savage pursuit. His body melted through the glacier from within, carving a blazing tunnel through ancient ice. Steam roared skyward in violent plumes, the expanding pressure driving Talas and Simon higher and higher. Ice sheared against the dragon’s scales, rose-blossoms ripping and burning where they scraped across Kyyr-coated frost.

  Fwoooosh!

  Apex—Talas burst through the far side of the glacier in an eruption of shattered ice and vapor. Behind him, Calamity flames followed, devouring the tunnel he had carved.

  “TALAS BE READY!” Simon shouted, blood streaking from his mangled face as the blossoms slowly knit his broken features back into place.

  Talas spun, charging Kyyr, focusing on the rising fire.

  Bayren emerged from icy hollow, ice exploding outward, revealing outstretched jaws and—

  “STELLARIS!”

  Kyyr compressed just as Bayren’s flames licked them; the star-forged waves discharged a stellar pulse, repelling the monster back down the frozen chute. He vanished into the crumbling mountain of ice that was tearing itself back into its nascent crevasse.

  The two took a fleeting breath. Simon pressed his palm to Cythrallis, focusing his Kyyr through the living blade. “We can’t endure this horrid shit much longer! How much more bloody time do you need?”

  Cythrallis processed his query, its steel mind warbling as it estimated time as the massive ice mountain crashed below, sending world-shattering earthquakes across Himadri. The impact was so massive that glaciers all around the moon groaned in a drawn-out cataclysmic scream.

  “823 seconds.”

  Talas raised a scaled brow. “What? How long is that?”

  Simon rolled his eyes at the Hy’Kyyrians’ answer as he did quick math. “13 minutes and 43 seconds?”

  “And counting… Freedom is a breath away. So don’t choke.” It warbled through the air.

  “Fuck ass needle…” Talas grumbled as he stared down at the collapsing ice, energy gathering in the depths. “Simon—i-is the Imago still down there?”

  Simon crawled up and peered over his shoulder as he brushed blood from his mouth. “Should be… It’s bound to Bayren.”

  Talas glanced back at the weary Vileblood. “Don’t die on me now.”

  Simon smirked as a white rose bloomed from his mouth. “I’ll try…”

  Down below, the city of Aeburgh shuddered in terror of the roaring ice. Support pillars bowed under the strain, their Kyyr engines flaring warnings against the crushing weight of compounding tons. The relentless rattling drove deep, heavy tremors through bone and metal as chaos reignited for all the weary survivors.

  Rusk and his fellow rangers struggled back toward where they’d last sensed Pax. Bracing against the violently shuddering vessel, they pushed into the lower decks. Where the darkness swelled like a dying heartbeat as more and more energy was funneled into the Starglider's shields.

  And in that black, a Diodecian walked unaffected by the roaring motion of the ungodly commotion. With a hand dragging against the rose-gold corridors, he pulsed his Kyyr through the vessel, searching and unfortunately finding something of interest.

  A shuddering soul.

  -L.Osric