I hiss out my warning to Tiktik and George, “George, get to Tiago, get to the west end of town, get anyone that you can to follow you. Take care of Daffodil. Tiktik, things are going down, way earlier than I expected. Are you really, truly, absolutely, willing to face down the apocalypses with us?”

The smile she flashes me tells me Tiktik is truly, truly all-in, despite the deadly serious nature of what’s coming. Despite the horrible circumstances I keep finding myself in, I’m incredibly lucky and blessed to find staunch allies such as Tiktik, Dippy, George and Tiago, and even though she’s gone, Dawn. George looks aghast at my command, but the steely, determined gaze I shoot him speaks the volumes necessary to earn his faith in my command. He takes off towards the apothecary far faster than my memories say someone that age should be able to move. Yes Bud, I know.

I draw a ragged breath and loose a sad sigh as I throw wide the doors to the town hall. At least the doors to its entry vestibule. I know this isn’t going to go any better than the last attempts, but I have to try. The din of panic draws closer and closer, and even Tiktik picks up on the cacophony, though she doesn’t yet hear the rider and his warning. I’d swear the messenger is gurgling his warning through a throat full of blood at this point. I shake my head sadly at the thought. I’ve been there myself. That messenger is likely on death’s door.

The vestibule is open, but the hall itself is locked. I call out demandingly, “Harriet! If you’re here, we need to speak! One of the threats I warned of is arriving! It just swept over Gran Vista!”

There’s a scoff from within the hall and a quick shuffling that approaches the vestibule. After the noises of a clicking and a sliding, Harriet peeks her head out. Sticking her head out into the vestibule while I’ve got the exterior doors open, the sound of panic reaches her ears. Concern draws across Harriet’s face, overwriting the annoyance.

She steps out and hazards to ask, “I’m truly hoping that you didn’t just insight panic in my town to get your way. I know, I know. That’s unlike you, but you’ve been off kilter since you returned. Though I would honestly prefer that to the possibility that you’re correct.”

I roll my eyes, and Tiktik snickers. My short companion states, “Dunno about you madame mairess, but when this shorty dreams up a prophecy that comes true minutes later, I’m inclined to listen.”

I raise an eyebrow at Tiktik. Her telepathic avatar shows up to confirm that she now hears the rider as well. I’d truly hoped I was hallucinating it. I don’t want this, these people don’t deserve to be run out of their home. Harriet steps forth and locks the town hall behind her as she ushers us out into the street.

The rider quickly approaches the town hall to deliver his message, though his voice weakens and weakens as he approaches. He’s clinging to life by a thread. Even the horse’s hoof-beats are beginning to falter. He must have been pushing it at top speeds for over a day, maybe close to two days.

I’m about to speak, but Harriet shoves me aside to approach the sound of the commotion. She listens as horror dawns upon her face. In moments, the rider approaches, and gurgles his last warning as he slumps in his saddle. He topples to one side, unable to fall off the horse due to having lashed himself to his steed. The steed however falls to its own exhaustion and injuries as well. The pair have claw marks seared into their flesh, leaving char outlining the wounds. The horse convulses, kicking one last time before settling into a stillness full of finality.

I feel horrible for the rider and the horse. I’ll never know the brave soul’s name. I siphon a ragged breath and loose a sad sigh. Shaking my head, I turn my attention towards Harriet. My eyes beg the plea that she listen to my earlier request. I want her safe. I want her townsfolk safe. As much as I’d like her town to remain safe, I doubt I’ll fair any better against some force that was able to overrun the most fortified city in Aasimovia. The panic heightens as each civilian spreads the warning throughout the city sharing its message, increasing the difficulty for all of us to keep them safe.

Harriet begins to mutter, “The second quake. The adventurer was right. The Felgre horde has been released. It—. It can’t be.” During the chaos, Harriet turns to me to plead, “You’ll, you’ll still help us, help to save them, won’t you?”

Did she really just ask that? Did she even feel the need to ask? Seriously? Will I help save them? Of friggin’ course. Right Bud? Yeah, absolutely. Sure, I agree, it’s probably impossible, but never tell me the odds. What? No, I know that odds are realistically helpful in determining--, ugh, forget it Bud. It was a joke that was a reference to, err, well, to media from a world that doesn’t exist. Okay, it was dumb, I admit. Regardless, I may as well answer Harriet.

I furrow my brow and frown at her as I ask in response, “Harriet? Just what kind of person, just who the hell, do you think I am? Of course I will. Believe in me because I believe in you. Get everyone either on boats or to the west end of town. I’m sure Teuila’s on her way back. She went to warn the Colossi, but that’s dozens of miles, days of travel for anyone other than her. Teuila though? Maybe a day for a round trip if she had to go all the way to the old chieftain’s compound. It’s only been six hours’ish, but, well, hopefully she can sense the danger we’re in. One way or another she’ll be back before the end of tomorrow, and she’ll be itching to crack some skulls and drive them back. It sounds like an entire army though. I don’t know if we can save the town. Hell, I’m certain we can’t.”

Speaking about the townsfolk, especially those like Keeley that don’t believe in me, Harriet shakes her head while muttering, “They won’t trust that you can even buy them time. There’ll be panic and dissent. They see you as small and helpless. They see you as just a child.”

I scoff, “They’ll be surprised when they see this little warrior run wild. Sure it won’t be my greatest moment, or my finest hour, but I’ll be out there protecting them all, all the same.”

Lightning bristles across the sky sounding loud cracks as if to emphasize my point. Hm, speaking of lightning, I’m dying anyway, right? What if we crank up our internal electrokinesis subroutine up to eleven? Err, I, me, my, no plural. Well, okay, sure, you’re in here too Bud, sort of. You know what I meant. I need to be better, faster, stronger. I’m going to need every edge I can get. Back on Can’Z’aas, I could lay waste to thousands if I really gave it my all, but I’m all but stripped of that power here. I barely have any access to it at all, and when I use it, I edge all that much closer to death.

I’m about to face down whatever a Felgre horde is, likely numbering in the thousands. Maybe tens of thousands. There’s at least close to a thousand, if not several thousand people in Autumn Brook. It’s a fairly sizable city, all things considered. That’s too many lives to just give up on. I. Glp. I can’t even make their deaths mean anything if I fail. If Dawn were still alive, I’d probably do the unspeakable act of carving a rune around the town. If I failed to save them, I’d at least have the slight opportunity to have bound Dawn’s soul to her body. I know Bud, I know, it’s despicable, horrible. I don’t want any of them to die.

I may be small, I’m definitely short, but I’m not helpless. Turning to my equally short companion, I ask, “Tiktik, do you feel better about doing crowd control of civilians and guiding the people, or do you want to try crowd control on a horde of hostile aggressors?”

Tiktik chuckles nervously as she responds, “I uh, I’m normally right up there in the front with anyone, but that’s when the numbers are sort of near even. I’m not sure I’m cut out for that, unless you want me to literally just rain down fire and lightning from a rooftop or something.”

I raise an eyebrow towards Tiktik as if prompting her exact suggestion. I’m fine with not putting her in physical mortal danger if she can aid us from afar. Tiktik pouts when she realizes I mean for her to do as she wishes, but am recommending her last suggestion.

My wild-orange-haired friend complains, “But, but you and Teuila are going out to face them, right? At least when she gets back. What if I lose track of you in the horde? I don’t want to burn or melt you! I’m not that kind of sorceress who can like, feel out where her allies are and sculpt my spells around them. It takes my biggest pool to cast one spell that I can do that with, one time.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

I can’t fight the smile that dances across my face tremblingly as laughter burbles forth. I double over and begin cackling. Harriet and Tiktik both look at me like I’ve lost my mind. Joke’s on them, I’d never found it or had it in the first place. Haha, yes Bud, I’m being self-deprecating for humor in my own head.

I explain, “Harriet, if you can get anyone to do it, have people stack up all excess material on the east end of town, building material, supplies they can’t carry during an evacuation, explosives if you have any. As far as raining down fire? Tiktik, ignite me, right now. Hit me with your hottest fire that doesn’t dig into any of your pools. Hell, Harriet, do you have a torch, flint and steel?”

Harriet looks aghast as she responds, “What? I, I mean, those exist nea--. Well of course we do, but I’m not handing any of that over to you now you little lunatic!”

I snort a laugh and roll my eyes while shaking my head in humored exasperation. I fish around in my hyperdimensional haversack for my firestarter that I don’t think I’ve ever used for its intended purpose of starting cooking fires. I don’t want to waste any magic from my staff trying to impress Harriet and Tiktik. Speaking of Tiktik, she sees how resolute, adamant, and determined that I am to set myself aflame.

Tiktik seems to parse the situation, carefully weighing how much she trusts me. She smiles and points a finger at me as a familiar ticking fills the air. I grin and stand arms wide as a bolt of flame forms from Tiktik’s finger aimed my direction. Harriet actually feebly leaps towards the path of the bolt, to her credit, in her mind, likely in order to save me. She really is a staunch leader, a fantastic mairess that her city deserves.

I let my danger wraps guide my senses in order to intercept the bolt of flame with my palms near my neck so that Harriet can’t so much as come near the fire. As I clap down on the fire sailing through the air, it flares for only a moment against my flesh, not even singing any of my own wildly floating mane of hair. I raise an eyebrow at the pair and sweep my right hand flicking it at the wrist, palm-up. They take my gesture’s meaning, and Harriet seems stunned from her fallen position on the ground. Tiktik grins wildly. I know what she’s about to ask.

As I offer a hand to help Harriet up, I verbally offer to Tiktik, “Yeah Tiktik, you can rain fire down on me. I’ve had to swim in lava for quite a length of time, then stand on the god of fire’s back, after I’d just killed my brother, and lost my hand to an injury he caused. Don’t worry, we both got better. I mean, sure, I barely survived after swimming in the lava for too long, but fiery explosions, flames, high heat, cold? All of that? It’d have to have some special kind of magic to bypass my resistant nature to thermal activity.”

I try not to laugh as I downplay the horrible events between me and Mataalii in a comic fashion. He hated me so viscerally that he took a path of villainy, murder, destruction. A path that, if he hadn’t taken, we’d never have pushed with so many others to band together to survive. There was just so much that had to fall into place on Can’Z’aas. Still, the two women look mildly upset at my last explanation. I offer them a helpless shrug as I begin walking to the east.

Harriet calls out, “Wait! Just like that? You’re going to demonstrate some power, and then throw yourself headlong into violence for The Brook? Again?”

I flash Harriet a smile over my shoulder as I call back, “You’re damn right I am. We might not be able to save your entire town honorable Mairess, but we’ll do our best. Keep your citizens safe. You’re truly an amazing leader. And, uh, if we fail, or fall, I do sincerely hope you’ll take up my suggestion. Tiktik can probably slay the hydra, she has a suite of skills perfect for such a beast.”

Tiktik looks like she’s going to object as she starts to chase after me. The town doesn’t really have many high buildings, most of the buildings are at most two stories tall. Tiktik will probably have to position herself in a tree. I’ve got the perfect one in mind. That poor ancestor. Huff. An undead who chose a peaceful idyllic existence resting against a tree atop a hill for eternity. They’re all gone now. The two of us have a few hours to prepare some line of defense, and to rest up in preparation for what’s coming. Not long enough for anything major. Not long at all.

My ragged, saddened breathing nearly becomes sobs. Teuila is going to be so upset with herself for not being at my side during this. Partially for missing the action, mostly for not being able to protect me yet again. She wants us to never be away from each other’s side ever since we died. The two of us can’t help it though. Sometimes one or the other of us just has to take care of some necessary task that it doesn’t make sense for both of us to spend our efforts on.

She’s a hero, an honest to goodness warrior hero that will do everything in her power to save people, no matter how much it hurts her heart to spend any time away from me. No matter how much she worries I might die before she returns to my side. Sometimes she might claim that she’d let everything and everyone else burn while trying to save me or spend our last moments together, but she would never forgive herself if she actually managed to let that happen. I still wish she was here. I wish we had our idyllic life with our family at the Miracle Oak back home. I just want everyone to be safe and happy. Most of all, over everyone else, my whole family, and out of all of them, her the most.

I silently cry beneath the stormy skies that constantly drizzle acid rain upon the land. Sniffling, I furiously rub the tears from my face, and my itchy eyes. Tiktik flashes me a sad half frown. Thinking better about things, I turn to my wonderful companion.

I wrap Tiktik in a hug and ask, “Tiktik? Can you go make sure Harriet’s able to at least get started getting people organized? We don’t have long, and there aren’t many preparations we can make without some sort of materials. I’ll be easy to find when you’ve got that done. I think our telepathy should reach at least halfway across the town. It’s a lot stronger in range than the telepathic bond that I’m used to from Can’Z’aas.”

Her frown morphs into a pout while Tiktik hugs me tightly for a moment. She asks, “Are you sure? You’ve been having a rough time chum. Without Teuila here, I worry about you being alone for even a little bit after seeing what we saw at the inn. Heh, Littlebit. Sniffle. Glp.”

Tiktik gulps back a saddened sob and we both draw ragged, saddened breaths for a moment. I nuzzle her cheek as I nod. Sending my telepathic avatar to her, I nod my confirmation, requesting that she go aid with the evacuation effort for a few hours if she can handle the upcoming fight without sleeping. I slip a scroll from my enchanted scrollcase to plant in Tiktik’s voluminous sleeve.

I telepathically send, “I’ll be meditating, cultivating what mana I can, and sleeping while trying to dream up ideas on how to turn this around. I have a nuclear option that I was hoping to never have to use, and I’ll save it for as long as I can, but, well—. Whatever could take down an entire city in under a day, the supposedly strongest one around, I—. I’m sure I’ll have to use it. The elementals are, well, they’re not our friends. They’re as dangerous to you and me as they are to our foes. That scroll will keep them from attacking you.”

Tiktik’s telepathic avatar flashes mine a sad half smile as she nods. My friend takes off in meat space, heading towards the center of town. As she leaves, I stare after her wistfully. She hasn’t had many opportunities to be her silly, prankstery, upbeat self. I can sense just how important a part of her that that side of her is to Tiktik. Yet she’s been suppressing it to take matters seriously. I sigh as I shake my head and work my way to the easterly path leading out of town.

Sitting in the path in lotus position, I focus on my internal electrokinesis first. Home in Can’Z’aas, I’d gotten it to enhance the speed of my reflexes by over ten percent. We’re dying anyway, let’s see what we can do with. Err, yes Bud, I’m doing the plural again. I’m not sure why. I’m dying anyway, let’s see what I can do if I literally amp up the power to eleven. Going from an over ten percent increase in internal speed to an over one hundred percent increase in internal speed. I’ll be literally burning away my nervous system, but it hardly matters any more.

Hm? I’m sorry Bud, it’s true. I know, I know, we finally have a chance at some evil dragons, but we probably won’t catch them in time. They may have been in The Gap for a few days, or a week or two, but they’re probably finished with their rampage, and heading home already. We have no chance of catching up with massive beasts when we’re days away from where they were last spotted in the first place. I’m sorry Bud. I still haven’t fully given up, but, well, when you need to save people, sometimes you pull out all the stops, all of them. Yes, even if it means you’re even likelier to die than you already were.

You what? Bud, no. No, you don’t have to do that to yourself. You gained full sentience, you are a person Bud, you have a life that you deserve to live. I—. Okay. If it comes to that, I’ll back your play. It’s very sweet of you Bud. Just, just promise me you’ll try to not let yourself die by going overboard, okay? I’m sure there are other wielders out there worthy of you bonding with.

I—. Oh. I’m honored. I gulp back a sob and rub tears from my eyes quickly. Just, just try Bud. Oh. That’s, that’s unfortunate. I guess if it seems like I’m a split second from dying, if you truly are willing to do that for the people of The Brook, then, well, I certainly wouldn’t be able to stop you at that point. My ragged breathing becomes a sob that morphs into a yawn as I blink back tears. Before it even gets to that point, I’ll try to use every tool in my toolbelt. Sort of literally a toolbelt, with where I have the elemental stones and my scrolls placed.