As the six-second countdown begins, or rather, the five point nine nine seven five’ish second countdown begins, I take stock of the situation. The Damnations are closing in on the nearest dragons, their jaws agape and their eyes glowing with that ever-present malevolence that reeks of a hunger. Heccinckethmorn, the seventh dragon, the newest, latest volunteer arrival is in the most danger, and I’m worrying that I can’t save any of them, let alone all of them. I quickly calculate the trajectory of the Damnations' attacks and the distance between each of them and their apparent targets. Yeah, I definitely can't stop them all, but I can at least try to redirect their attacks towards each other to buy time for my allies to escape.

Struggling to get a handle on what exactly this form can do, I urge it to go all out, to show off its entire capabilities in an instant. I would prefer it to be able to unleash a barrage of a great enough magnitude to take out the Damnations, but it just doesn’t have that kind of power at its disposal. Instead, I zip to the nearest Damnation, Grimsranton, and begin unloading every bit of power that I have into his face.

My Void Dragon Honoris Causa is exhaling its breath weapon, clawing and scratching at the Damnation’s scales and face, doing absolutely nothing to it at all. Nonnam didn’t have the time to get this big before I disoriented him and paused his transformation, so I was able to at least affect him somewhat. It seems like it’s all down to the mite-hulk abilities. I blast the cosmic king’s enhanced claw pistols into Grimsranton’s eyeball, and punch and claw at its eyelid, but I’m barely able to affect even this weakest of points on his exterior. I almost imperceptibly scratch his cornea.

Three seconds in, and I’m moving probably faster than I’d ever imagined I might be able to. I’m also perceiving the world in slow motion. Or rather, I’m moving between moments, I’m walking in the absence of time, or close to it. I’m able to keep up with my own relativistic C-fractional movements, only because of my Void Dragon Honoris Causa’s ability to nullify, or void, a portion of time’s normal passage in some fashion. Or actually, I guess it’s the opposite? I don’t void out the length between moments, time would go too fast that way, but I do nullify, or at least reduce, the speed at which time can pass for me and me alone.

This particular ability setting me into accelerated meatspace allows me to perceive at hundreds of times my usual capabilities. If I hadn’t awoken my Honoris Causa’s second Caliber within the last forty eight hours, I wouldn’t even be able to do this at all. I’d probably attempt one minuscule movement and end up on the other side of Rayileklia, completely lost. Imagine how horrible that would end up. Me, Reggie Shellcracker in the Untamed Lands, I’d probably show up next to Mataalii or something, and then my form would wear off. It’d be months of journeying to try to get back home to Mount Solace, if I even could. Anyway, focus on the fight Reggie.

I struggle against the odds for the next two point nine nine’ish seconds, but my efforts are in vain. The Damnations are too powerful, and they manage to claim the souls of Heccinckethmorn, Zayzi, Ixeyla, Leezahna, Lilm, and Shapua before I can stop them. Hell, before I can so much as annoy one of them. They’re about to claim Shiz’s as well mere moments after my form would wear off. I’d blink back tears if I had eyelids or tear ducts. I roar in fury and despair, knowing that I’ve failed to protect these allies, these friends, these dragons. As the six seconds are about to come to an end, I would revert to my natural form, feeling exhausted and defeated if I didn’t have another option.

Grumbling to myself, pissed beyond belief at so many things, the nature of reality, the Damnations, myself, and on and on, I vow to do better next time. This time, I’ll use my abilities more wisely and effectively against these overwhelmingly powerful, incredibly massive foes. They definitely earn their group title of the Damnations. With my short vow, my minor promise to myself, I warp space and time to return myself to the beginning of the six second transformation period, and try again.

Oddly enough, by traveling in time, I’m finally starting to feel a bit more like myself, the Reggie Shellcracker of Can’Z’aas, in the weirdest way possible. By being not myself at all, to have access to my most rule-breaking power. Keeping my memory during the time reset is a massive boon, since I don’t have access to my Can’Z’aasian logs. It’s a combination of the node that Kinzul helped me form in the digital subsection of my brain, and the cosmic king form’s alien biology that intertwines with the very fabric of spacetime itself that allows it, me, to remember.

I’m linearly experiencing every jump back into the past though, one at a time, somehow remaining in a single primary timeline. Eventually I’ll accumulate a ton of memories in my short term storage, and likely wipe out some long term storage if I’m not careful. Hm, accumulating was what we were going for though, just a different kind.

Knowing that if I don’t increase my density, my attacks won’t even remotely faze the Damnations, I start by voiding out the space between atoms and molecules around me. I siphon as much matter and mass out of the air as possible to increase my own mass and density for almost exactly three seconds. Heccinc is mere instants away from having his soul stolen, so I have to take my shot now. With a burst of energy, I charge at Ferciul, the Damnation closest to Heccinckethmorn. I’m raging against the cosmos, the Damnations, and fate, as my cosmic mite-hulk king form’s symbiote crackles with power. I collide with the Ferciul, hoping to knock her off course in order to send her careening into her ally, Dazomeus.

I wasn’t large enough, dense enough, or powerful enough though. I knock the Damnation, Ferciul, slightly to the side, maybe a couple of inches, and she simply ignores me, heading straight for Heccinc. My current target, Ferciul, mutters something in that alien brain-melting hiss of the Draconic tongue. I probably should have thought to equip one of my forms with the ability to understand it, though I’d still also need to learn it.

Ferciul claims Heccinc’s soul as I give chase. I’m doing my best, pummeling her and battering her wings, but it barely diverts her course at all with how vast and powerful she is. I’m a few meters tall, but she’s easily a hundred times my size. Ferciul swats towards me, annoyed at my presence, but I dodge effortlessly at this speed. Ferciul seems to be retreating, apparently not finding dealing with me worth the effort, since she’s happy to have drained Heccinckethmorn into lifelessness. She lets him and his kobold passengers plummet into the Worldstorm below. D@mmitall!

Sighing huffily, angrily, I then focus on the remaining five Damnations, using my newfound ridiculous level of agility to dodge their attacks. I weave through the Damnations’ swath of limbs that are mostly aimed at my allies rather than myself. Struggling to strike them with what I wish were devastating blows, I’d cry tears of rage if I could.

All I want to do is to injure or incapacitate them enough to drive them back, since I have no hope of killing them. Rather than killing, I’m just hoping to give my allies, especially Zayzi, Leezahna, and Ixeyla time to escape. I know I have no hope of killing any of them in six seconds, let alone all of them. I’m just not powerful enough.

I’m at the five point nine second mark again, and again, everyone’s souls are forfeit, save mine, and Shiz’s. Of course, Shiz is mere instants away from losing his soul as well. I can’t allow myself to grieve, I can’t be driven mad or lose track of the time, I need to warp back to the first moment available to me. I need to take advantage of everything I learn.

I warp to the earliest point in my spacetime lightstream that I can, the beginning of the transformation, and I start anew. Again, three seconds in, Heccinckethmorn loses his soul, and almost immediately after, so do Shapua and Lilmbray. I just can’t generate enough power, fast enough, to save all of my allies. Hell, I don’t know if I can generate enough power, fast enough, to save any of them. I won’t stop trying though.

Huff, huff, I’ve reset time several thousand attempts now, trying different combinations of abilities and tactics to try to save all of my dragon allies, and their kobold passengers. It’s just, it’s just not possible. I can’t see a path to victory. Did I react too slowly when I got Luni’s note? No, that’s not it, if I’d started even a second earlier, I’d only have the form up for five seconds once the Damnations came into view. This was the exact optimal second to engage the form. D@mmitall!

There goes Zayzi again, I can’t bear watching this happen over and over and over. I break down in tears, not that my cosmic mite-hulk king form can cry, but I internally weep as the moments pass by. The Damnations turn their attention to me, allowing Shiz to flee. Without warning, they charge at me, their wings beating furiously as they close in for the attack. I feel their claws and teeth attempt to rend into my exoskeleton, I’m battered about and swatted back and forth, but I’m mostly unharmed save the cracks forming in my exoskeleton. I could be dodging these attacks, but it’s pointless. I need to reset time immediately.

Resetting time once more, I realize I should have been dodging those attacks. I brought back the injured state of my body with me. I didn’t bring back the accumulated density, just the injuries. That sucks. Alright, new tactic. Instead of engaging the Damnations, I exit the battlefield far enough that I can observe them without being seen. Voiding out the space between myself and a point high above Rayileklia, I step out of the battlefield completely, and focus on honing my senses.

I’m outside the atmosphere, in space, watching the battle unfold like some sort of spy satellite. Grimsranton snags Heccinckethmorn’s soul at just past the three second mark. Dazomeus and Ferciul simultaneously snag Shapua’s and Lilmbray’s souls almost immediately after. It takes another two to two and a half seconds for Laombigla to get Ixeyla’s soul. Ephlomseestiph acquires Leezahna’s soul immediately after, leaving Sibil to claim Zayzi’s soul a moment later.

Apparently my presence on the battlefield does change which targets they prioritize somewhat. They aren’t just going after the absolute nearest dragons, which means they aren’t mindless beasts while under the red-eyed control, but that hardly changes the timing at all. The six turn their attention to Shiz next, and his soul would be claimed just after the six second mark. I return to the starting point in my spacetime lightstream, the future lightcone of this transformation once more.

At this point, I know that I can’t save Shapuackurt, Lilmbrayur, or Heccinckethmorn. It’s just not possible. I can’t generate enough force to even knock a single Damnation off course far enough for long enough to let my allies get away. I most definitely can’t destroy their wings, or anything, within the three seconds that I have, even with the exponential potential force increase that each second of mass accumulation grants me. I also can’t generate all that much density to begin with, out here in the air.

It would be better to slam myself into a crater in the ground, to absorb the molecules in the mud for density. I’d get more, more quickly. Fine, let’s try that. Let’s warp back to the beginning, to save this few fractions of a second spent thinking of a plan, spacewarp ourselves down into the ground, and try three seconds of density accumulation.

Ugh, everything is beginning to blur together. What am I on, something like my six thousandth attempt? Six hundredth? Nine thousandth? Yeah, yeah it’s definitely over nine thousand by this point. No one’s meant to be able to relive the same period over and over and over, let alone to experience that period of time in super speed perception.

Trying to keep myself sane, and amuse myself slightly, I engage in some onomatopoeia. *Fwsh*, back to the past. *Slam*, into the ground. *Whoosh*, absorbing all the density that I can for almost three seconds. Now, *crash*, returning with a fury to slam into Grimsranton. I knocked Grimsranton farther away! But it still wasn’t enough!

There goes Shapua, and Lilm, and Grimsranton is simply flying back towards Heccinc while growling something at me in Draconic. I knock Grimsranton aside once more, but as I focus on protecting Heccinc, the rest of the battle unfolds as it always had. I see Zayzi falling before Sibil, and weep tears internally. I’ve got mere moments to return to the starting point of the transformation yet again.

All six Damnations have turned their attention on Heccinc, and as soon as my transformation ends, they’ll turn their attention to Shiz. It’s not possible. I can’t generate enough force within the three seconds to save Shapuackurt, Lilmbrayur, and Heccinckethmorn. I can’t do it even with finding a denser location to siphon from. I could probably save Shiz if I gathered density for something like five point eight seconds. I won’t settle for that though.

Huff, can I save Ixeyla? Leezahna? Zayzi? If I knock out one Damnation, sending him or her beneath the Worldstorm, will the other five withdraw, to prevent me from harvesting the dragonforce? Or do they have their lieutenants, the Evil Claws waiting below the Worldstorm, in case of just such a thing occurring again, since I’d done it to Nonnam? Crap, I can check. Alright, warping around, and, ah, yeah. There’s thirteen devilish dragons waiting grounded in formation a few dozen miles away. I’m pretty sure that’s the Evil Claws. I *think* they only would answer to Laombigla’s roar, if they could pick it up over the Worldstorm.

Drawing a shuddering, ragged, sobbing breath, I resolve to try again. I’ll go nearly five point nine seconds, trying to decimate one of the Damnations in order to save Shiz. Then, if that works, if it drives the other Damnations away, I’ll spend fractions of a second less time building up power on each reset. That’ll let me see how much time it takes to build up exactly enough force to disrupt the Damnations’ plans. Here we go, reset again, and for now, just pick on the smallest Damnation, Sibil.

Yes! This will work! Between the gravity bomb blasts of my pistols, and my claws, I struck Sibil with enough force that part of her snout caved in. Hell, more than part of her snout caved in, scales and cartilage all the way to orbital surface of her maxilla did, and I felt that crack slightly as well. Sibil’s neck whipped downwards from my overhead hammerfist with all four claws. It sent her into a spiral into the Worldstorm! I think the other Damnations aren’t going to retreat, but I don’t have enough time to analyze exactly what their response is to Sibil being knocked into the Worldstorm. Okay, five point nine seconds does it for sure.

How low can we go? I shave off more and more time, powering up less and less, and still manage to knock Sibil into the Worldstorm with each attempt! What attempt are we on with all these fractional differences? Hell’s bells I can’t even recall. I’m sure that it’s over nine thousand though. I’ve probably put on a few dozen more trying to get the length of time spent accumulating density lower and lower.

I’m still able to knock Sibil out like toggling a light switch at five and a half seconds. Zayzi dies at around the five point five second mark, I can definitely save her! Leezahna and Ixeyla die at around the five second mark, I might be able to save more of my allies! Still, I’m less and less effective as I approach four seconds, let alone down to three seconds of density accumulation. I needed to swap from striking Sibil in the face, to blasting her hard in the back, hammering on her shoulders and wing joints as my power got lower and lower.

I’m down to four seconds on this attempt, and it’s still working, whew. Four seconds is still enough density, and gives the Damnations a second to notice that their ally is missing, causing them to have to choose between their ally, and harvesting the souls just beyond their grasp. Returning to the starting point of my temporary spacetime lightstream, I immediately warp into the ground and spend almost three point nine seconds building power. I warp back into the air above Sibil, my form’s alien symbiotic cells pulsing with power, my gaze fixed upon the Damnations and the Worldstorm beneath them.

This will be the shortest attempt yet. Summoning up every bit of power I can muster, I rocket down into Sibil’s spine between her scapula, blasting density gravity bombs into the base of her wings with the cosmic mite-hulk king’s claw pistols. Sibil howls in agony as the power of the universe itself courses through her. But she doesn’t falter.

The Damnations other than Sibil seem to continue their assault unfettered. Each flap of their wings offers up whirlwind storms that would normally stagger me, as they evade me in order to steal the souls of my allies, my friends, my newest family. I need to at least get their attention! I pepper each of the Damnations with a pair of gravity bomb blasts, setting small spheres of their shoulders to something like twenty times gravitational effect.

The Damnations see me as a threat now, so they turn their attention on me, but this still doesn’t save Ixeyla, Zayzi, Leezahna, or Shiz. My form will end soon, and they’ll go back to ignoring me, so if this attempt is to work, I need to keep fighting and try to knock one of them out. Each Damnation is the size of several mountains, and their claws are foothills that push roaring walls of wind before them as they swipe at me.

I dodge and weave, my movements fluid and graceful, wasting no energy as I essentially bend and distort space around me to move from point to point. I only traverse the shortest distance required to evade each attack, despite my currently perhaps around four meter tall giant size. Wasting no effort, I strike back with my own claws, and my claw pistols, my mandibles, and every bit of my Void Dragon Honoris causa, fully physically manifested. The alien symbiotic ichor within me looses tendrils through cracks in my exoskeleton, extending to slash and skewer into the abhorrent apocalyptic abominations known as the Damnations.

The Damnations loose their breath weapons at me, and it’s a myriad cornucopia of elements striking me at once. I’d laugh if I had a normal esophagus. I’m in the form of the cosmic mite-hulk king though, and I won’t go down any more than the Damnations will. I won’t die just yet, but I’m still doing very little to my targets.

Finally, after what seems like hours of fighting, at five point nine seven seconds, a single Damnations falls, its body dropping into the Worldstorm. I’d stand victorious, but I’ve failed yet again. While I was distracted trying to take down a single Damnation, Laombigla got Ixeyla’s soul, and Ephlomseestiph got Leezahna’s. My form is about to end, so I need to return once more to the beginning point of my transformation, the earliest point in my current spacetime lightstream, the point where I’ve got the form’s whole future lightcone ahead of it. It seems pretty likely that I can’t go less than four seconds of density accumulation, or everyone dies. With four seconds, I can maybe save Ixeyla, Zayzi, Leezahna, and Shiz, if I choose the right Damnation, in the right location on the battlefield.



The six ancient dickweasels, the Damnations, hover menacingly, their eyes fixed on the evacuating dragons behind my hulking form. I take a deep breath and focus my mind on the task at hand. Trying to shave off too much time taking down Sibil ended in disaster, and each time I took down Sibil, the Damnations still took out some of the trio that I’m trying to protect. So instead, the first thing I need to do is take out Laombigla, the leader of the thirteen Evil Claws. He's got command over the most powerful lieutenants of them all, if I can take him out, there shouldn’t be any backup for the other Damnations. That hopefully means the others would retreat to save Laombigla’s body and dragonforce, rather than pursuing my friends.

Lamenting everything that’s happening, I’m tempted to try giving in to wrath, but if it fails, I probably won’t be able to wrest control of my mind and body back before the six seconds are up. It took me like nine or ten minutes last time. With a roar, I warp and bend space to arrive in front of Laombigla’s face. I’m issuing my direct challenge to him in a single millisecond, my fists crackling with cosmic energy. He meets me head-on, his jaws snapping at me with razor-sharp teeth. I dodge to the side and slam my fists into his snout while blasting gravity wells with my claw pistols. I thankfully sending him tumbling backwards in the air momentarily.

I turn to face the other dragons, my mind racing as I try to keep my plan straight, the constant time travel jumbling my thoughts. I know that I need to keep moving, to keep them off balance. I summon a burst of energy and warp higher into the air, soaring miles above the acid-thunderstorm.

I can feel the symbiote starting to take hold, its grip on me beginning to overpower me. I know that I don't have much time left. This attempt was a bust. I need to return to the beginning, and siphon mass once more for almost exactly four seconds, closer to four point one seconds. When I’ve accumulated and cultivated the mass that I can, then I have to take that power and ram it into Laombigla.

Breathing deeply, and sighing for a long moment between moments, I reset to the beginning of my transformation once again. Diving deep into the ground by warping downwards and dropping like a rocket in reverse, I void the distance between molecules, adding more and more matter to my own mass, vastly increasing my density by the moment. Four seconds are up, four point one now as well, so I take a deep breath and channel all of my remaining energy into a single attack.

Warping into the sky above Laombigla, I plummet down towards the Damnation. My body is surrounded by a pulsing aura of cosmic energy with the density of the heart of a neutron star. I might be exaggerating a bit, but the laws of physics are breaking down with the size of the Damnations alone. If I gathered too much more mass and I’d probably become an actual black hole. Regardless, I crash into Laombigla with the force of a meteor, unleashing the full physical manifestation of my Void Dragon Honoris Causa, sending him reeling, tumbling down towards the Worldstorm. But the bastard begins to right himself, just as parts of him are dipping into the lethal storm.

With a final burst of energy, I unleash a wave of cosmic force in the form of dual gravity bomb blasts from the mite-hulk claw-pistols. I’m precise enough, and the force is just barely enough that it furls Laombigla’s wings. The disorientation and lack of coordination of his movements sends Laombigla hurtling into the Worldstorm below. As I feel my form slipping away, I know that I've done all that I can do. I may not have won the battle, but I've given it my all.

I can feel my form beginning to unravel, the cosmic energy seeping out of me like water from a cracked vase. I’m at nearly five, perhaps five and a half seconds through my form at the moment, but my attacks on Laombigla have given pause to the other Damnations. The attempt to hold so much mass so dense against myself, and utilize it for even these fractions of seconds has been too great. I’ve built up muscle stress over the thousands of attempts, and all my limbs feel leaden. Laombigla won’t die from the Worldstorm, hell, he might take nearly no damage, since I’m not in there directing lightning into his brain, dragging him into the vortexes that would keep him trapped inside.

If Laombigla shrinks in the right locations, he could avoid the worst of its effects. The Worldstorm is better at preventing things from rising up, because dragons can’t increase their size within it. That means they’d have to fly through it’s entire mile high or miles high cloudbank at only a tiny fraction of their maximum size, velocity, and power. Most of the vortexes aim downwards too, so being caught in one, at the size limited by the surface level of the Worldstorm, ends up meaning that they might just get slammed back into the ground below the storm.

I may not have slain any of them, but I know that I've done my absolute best that I can manage at this point. I couldn’t even pull off this same attempt again with my current fatigue. This form might essentially be useless after today, because I can’t remember if it’s a high regeneration form, or a new-body per transformation form. I’ll have to look into the specs with Kinzul later.

Laombigla is weakened at least. The Damnations’ve taken the souls of Shapuackurt, Lilmbrayur, and Heccinckethmorn which sickens me to my core. Those three of my dragon allies, and their kobold passengers plummet into the Worldstorm below. Even if the Damnations could puppet the soulless dragons like some of the rumors say, they’ve instead left the dragons dying from the Worldstorm, without exerting any control over them. At this very moment, this fraction of a second as I stand triumphant after having completely dominated their ally, the Damnations hesitate.

Instead of attacking me, or finishing closing in on Ixeyla, Zayzi, Leezahna, or Shiz, the Damnations begin shrinking. They dive into the tunnel that leads into Attraxiaz’s warrens. I remain with my inertia paused, standing on nothing, staring down at them, incapable of doing much more than watching them retreat into the tunnels. They’re still within view at this six second mark, but they aren’t looking back as they begin entering the tunnel structure that’s level with the Worldstorm.

Huff, huff. My form unravels. I lost three allies, three people I’d never gotten to know beyond their names. Hell, I lost sixty three or so allies, because the kobolds were coming to live with us in peace, and I didn’t know any of their names. I saved four others though, and the sixty kobolds they’re carrying, since Leezahna isn’t carrying any. Leezahna’s just sticking to Ixeyla as she overcomes the emotional toll of my bullying. I still feel horrible about having treated her like that. Treating anyone like that sickens me.

Was this the best outcome? Is this what I had to do? Will Kinzul ever forgive me? Was it right trading the lives of three of our loving, kind, voluntary dragon allies for the lives of these several hundred kobolds? It’s only been a split second since my transformation ended, and my ability to perceive at speeds beyond comprehension is fading away, replaced by my normal senses, and my silent sonar. The Damnations are still transforming downwards, shrinking as they approach the tunnels through the mountains that meat the surface of the Worldstorm.

Venting my frustration at the Damnations as they attempt to make their way into Attraxiaz’s territory, I throw everything I have from my arsenal their way. I conjure fireballs, lightning bolts, and enhance them with the runic-empowered elemental knives from the bandolier. I summon an acid-rain elemental, letting it drop down through the Damnations to harass them as they enter the tunnels. I unleash the glacial cone from Frostburn while tossing the enhanced-rune ice knife from the elemental bandolier. This sends something like one thousand to three hundred thousand tons of ice plummeting down after them, crushing the mouth of the entrance to Atter’s domain.

Sighing wearily, weeping openly, I begin conjuring T K squares. I hold my breath in order to leap towards Shiz, maintaining the Wyverium blessing of lightness. I’m glad those six seconds are over, and that I won’t have to live through the deaths of these allies again for now, but I still feel like I failed. Six seconds, and I saved three out of the six lives that would end during it. Not counting Shiz whose life would have ended after the six seconds, that ends up at fifty percent. That’s an F Reggie. That’s an F.