> I sent along the files we have on the inspiration for this Maffiyir’s first Titan, but I don’t think it will help verify anything. Our sources suggest the animal the monster was based on was simply a standard large predator. None of the flame abilities we’ve seen, and nothing else from any of the mutant rumors.

> --Radio transmission from Voices for Non-Citizens

I groaned in pain as the Titan vanished. I was grateful that I’d already had my Heat Resistance active, but the concussion of the explosion and the mass of the falling monster had both done a number to me. Everything hurt.

Should… turn my Heat Resist off… I thought dully. Can’t waste it.

A thought was enough to do so, but an immediate sear of fresh pain made me immediately reverse the action. The explosion and fire had heated the pavement beneath me, turning a patch of sealant into a molten mess that seemed stuck to every part of me. Even parts of the asphalt had been liquified, although this was patchier, with a solid area behind my back where I’d protected the road from the explosion.

As I rolled free, I heard Micah’s panicked voice. “I’ve got you, Mom! I’m fixing it!”

The temperature of my skin and surroundings dropped, allowing me to deactivate my Heat Resist safely.

Only three seconds left, I thought. Shit. I hope I don’t have to deal with another of these soon.

Gavin was just barely behind his brother, his tail wrapping around me repeatedly in a full-body hug. A wash of healing soothed my many aches and pains, most notably bringing relief to my throbbing left shoulder. As the pain receded, I flickered Analyze, focusing on my surroundings.

There’s Cassie. Minimal damage to her cloudcar, so she’s fine. Fire ring is fading. Fuel likely disappeared when the titan did. As far as everyone else in our group… lots of injuries, but no deaths? Wow.

Gavin’s tail released me and he stepped back to glare and put his hands on his hips. “Mom! What happened to you?!”

“Took a tooth to the arm,” I said. “Lucky I’ve got you to patch me up. But what about you? Why didn’t you activate your Fire Resist? You’re missing all your hair on the back of your head!”

“I did,” Gavin said indignantly. “Right away! I didn’t have an eye in the back of my head to see the fire before it hit me. Maybe I’ll take that next… but you need to take Regeneration so you can get your fingers back!”

“My fingers are fi-”

I had lifted both hands to show my son that I wasn’t injured, but was shocked into silence when I realized I was. Almost all the fingers were gone on my right hand, leaving just my thumb and the first joint of my index finger.

I waggled it, not quite believing what I was seeing. I couldn’t have lost my fingers without even noticing, could I?

Analyze, still active, paired up with my Eidetic Memory to return a swift answer: yes, I absolutely could. The moments of the explosion had been chaotic, but careful perusal of my memories did bring up a flash of intense pain from my hand that preceded the pain in the rest of my body by a fraction of a second. I closed my eyes, trying to position the dinosaur accurately in my mind. What had cut me? A tooth? A hand? No… the blast from the explosion hadn’t moved me predictably backward, but sent me spinning at an angle. My hand had been stepped on just before the Titan fell.

Once detached, the heat and fire would have quickly charred the fingers beyond reattachment.

I stared at my hand as if I might find my missing fingers if I stared hard enough, then turned to look at the spot on the pavement where I’d lain. Micah had cooled everything stuck to me and directly around me, but left the wider area alone. Only Analyze let me figure out my previous position, and it still couldn’t detect my missing digits.

The most likely spots are… hm. Yeah. That’s still bubbling.

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I Telekinetically grabbed a crowbar and started to root around in the tar, without much hope. I pushed several lumps out of the mix, but whether there was rock or tissue under the tarry coating was beyond me to tell. Even if I found a finger, reattaching it would almost certainly be impossible at this point.

Meghan fingers, lightly seared, with a thick crust of fried road batter.

Micah growled at Gavin, disrupting my gruesome thoughts. “Mom can’t take Regeneration. She’s all done taking new abilities.”

I winced. That hadn’t crossed my mind yet. It was obvious, but I’d been focused on my dwindling hope of healing the damage.

With how my Speciality worked out, I could have actually gotten good synergy in Regeneration if I took it! Of course, if I took it, I might have gotten a different specialty…

George clapped his hands loudly. “Alright, people! Let’s head back to Fort Autumn. I think we’ve had enough excitement for today. Let’s get to safety and check and see what our options are from the new Titan’s Heart.”

New…? I glanced to the side, and saw that Gavin picking up another oblong gem. It was exactly the same size and shape as the last one, but it was clearly a different hue, closer to true purple than the near-black gem we’d received previously.

Gavin saw me looking and he hunched around his prize guiltily. “I’m just holding it! I won’t do anything bad!”

I nodded absently, my attention returning to my truncated fingertip. Lucky I still have my whole palm, I guess?

One of the doctors who’d examined Micah’s foot injury had explained why, in addition to missing his big toe and part of two others, his foot was now oddly shaped. When the bonefur had sliced away part of his foot during his Challenge, it had taken the entirety of his first metatarsal with it. Healing Touch had healed all the parts of the body still present, but it didn’t replace bones that were entirely lost.

I was probably in a similar situation, where the meta-whatever bones in my hand had been damaged but not completely removed, unlike the vast majority of my fingerbones. Gavin’s Healing Touch had fixed everything it could. Everything that was still there.

Priya rested a hand on my back. Her face was a mask of horror and pity. “I’m so sorry, Meghan. But… we’re still out in the field.”

I shook myself. “Right… get to safety first. Then figure… this… out.”

Priya managed a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Do you want me to help you strap your shield to your right arm? You can carry your sword in your left. It’ll be harder to use, but…”

“But that’s what Assisted Strike is for,” I said, my voice dull. “I think I can still hold the shield? I have a thumb…”

“Here, let me help you get your swordbelt shifted to the other side, at least.”

As Priya fussed, I let my mind wander. Using Assisted Strike for every sword-swing would be doable. Many abilities let you use a variable amount of power. Some, like Cleanse, let someone exhaust themselves in an instant if they wanted to, no matter how strong they were. Other abilities, like Paralyze or Announcement, could be used in smaller or larger ways, but would probably never be able to be used continuously at full power.

Other abilities, like Healing Touch or Assisted Strike, took a set amount each time they were activated. At low synergy levels, that meant waiting a few minutes between each Healing Touch and a minute or so between each Assisted Strike. Now? With almost 600% synergy in Assisted Strike? I couldn’t quite use it continuously without tiring, but for practical purposes, I wasn’t far. Unless I was holding a chokepoint against a mobmu herd, I'd have enough time to regain energy in between fights. Even against a mobmu onslaught, I could fight for a good ten minutes straight without issues.

“Mommy?”

Cassie’s concerned voice snapped me out of my funk once more. Right. Still in the field. I pasted a smile across my face and turned toward her. She’d retracted the windshield on her cloudcar and was half out of her seat, hands leaning on the glittery pink dashboard.

I waved my injured hand at her. “I got a boo-boo, but Gavin patched me up. It's different, but it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Cassie’s face scrunched. “But how are you going to hold crayons or do LEGO?”

I Telekinetically grabbed the water bottle from Cassie’s cupholder, bumping it up against her. “Not a problem. I’ll just use my brain hands.”

“Your brain hands!”

This struck Cassie as hilarious, and she collapsed back in her seat, pressing both hands against her giggling mouth.

Micah frowned at me, then gave me a single, begrudging, nod. “That’s a good idea. You haven’t been practicing your Telekinesis enough.”

I gave him an offended look. “I’ve been practicing for at least an hour every day.”

He shrugged. “Sure, but when you’re not practicing you don’t use it too much. When we played Dragomino last night, you picked up all the tiles with your hands.”

“I can only hold five things with Telekinesis at a time! That game has dozens of tiles.”

“There’s probably a way you could have done it.” Micah’s eyes flicked to his foot. “Your fingers aren’t coming back. Figure it out.”

My mouth gaped at my nine-year-old’s brutal assessment, but I couldn’t argue. How could I? His missing toes made it impossible. He’d been the first of us to suffer a permanent injury.

Hopefully I’m the last.