BETH

With the shield bubble engaged, Tern took her down the atmosphere. Away from the battlefield in space. She sat down on the bubble and focused on slowing her breathing. The water deposit was drained a bit, but not too much, there was still plenty for her to use.

“How are we doing?” Beth asked.

“Rahgon is right. The battle in space is stretched out. It’s so huge. It will last for a long time and many will die on both sides,” Tern said. “The dragons fight with desperation. It’s so clear how important this planet is for them.”

Beth nodded, breathing slowly, but always keeping her hand on her mace. “Yeah.”

They came down and into the planet’s atmosphere, and were presented with a sight that was even more unimaginable than the one they had faced in space. Black spheres from the omf’s bulbous households flew down to the planet and landed all over the surface. Giant cannons, manned by several dragons each, sprouted from the mountain range and blasted liquid fire against the landing spheres. The weapons did little harm to the spheres, the distance was too great, but the sphere which tried to land closer to the mountain range were obliterated on the descent. The few offending void torpedoes that came branching off the space battle and down to the planet were destroyed high up in the atmosphere by swarms of adolescent dragons.

Tern landed beside the shuttle, which was parked at the edge of mountain square, and disengaged the bubble.

“Leo and Birgitta, where are you at?” Beth asked.

There was a lot of movement on the square and around the peaks. Dragons flying and running, with equipment and various weapons. Orders were given and orders were followed.

“Here!” Leo yelled.

Leo stood aways from them, at the southern cliff facing the invading enemy, and waved for them to come over. The omf were landing on both sides of the mountain. Beth scrambled out of the tattered remains of her vac suit and relished in gaining her freedom again. Doing battle in it had been tedious.

“You missed out on the hell, up there,” Beth said, pointing with her mace to space.

Leo went to pat Tern’s orb, but pulled back his hand at the last moment. “Thanks for letting us leave. But this, down there.” He pointed down the cliff and the slope which lead down to the base of the mountain. “Will be the end of us.”

Not only armies of omf and their machineries of war exited the landed black spheres, but also their companions. Strange creatures, but mainly three types. Some looked like rocks and boulders cobbled together, that somehow were able to move as a unit. There were the swarm creatures, which they had met back when first entering the anchor and hub network. And the third kind, the flesh creatures, amalgamations of flesh, like Tern’s previous companion.

“That doesn’t look good,” Beth said.

Birgitta waved at them from down the middle section on the mountain’s slope. “Move it!”

They made their way down the cliff and the not-too-steep slope, navigating the jagged rocks and slick surfaces. Birgitta crouched behind a trench-like boulder with a hand terminal in her hands.

“Look here,” Birgitta said and turned the hand terminal as they came down to her. “They will invade the mountain from the ground and the air.” Birgitta gave Tern a pat. “The king has ordered as many eggs as possible to be moved down the mountain’s blessing, they have to be kept safe. Hopefully they will have time to move enough of them. With so many adult dragons dying today, those eggs represent their future.”

Beth nodded. “Sounds like a plan. So what do we do?”

“Keep them away from the mountain,” Leo said. “I will go back to the shuttle. Birgitta managed to ask the dragons for some dragon fire and we were thinking of dropping them.”

“You are going to fly the shuttle into battle? The clash in the air will be terrible. Dragon versus omf and their machinery, and swarm creatures. It will be chaos.”

“That’s why I am going alone in the shuttle. Spread the risks,” Leo said.

Beth nodded. “Alright. Keep your flight patterns loaded. Try to stay safe.”

Leo smiled. “In this, no one is safe.” He did a brief salue and then he was away.

“He will die,” Beth said.

“As sure as we will, if we can not keep them off the mountain,” Birgitta said.

More black spheres landed across the horizon. Many more.

“There is almost an endless supply of foes out there,” Tern said. “Beth, are you ready for this?”

Beth grabbed her mace tighter and tested the cord. This day was going to be long, very long. A water drop landed on her naked hands. She looked up. Dark clouds amassed in the sky and after a crack of thunder, the rain started pouring. She wished that Milo could come thundering down.

Wyrhgon came flying and with a few wings flaps he kept hovering, he crossed the mountain side and watched over his troops, his speech crept into the mental channel. “This mountain is ours, this mud is ours. Look how they defile it, how they walk all over it, how they are destroying our world!” The green dragon made another swoop across the slope. “Our friends and families are dying up there, defending us from space. We will honor their sacrifice! Fire at heart and mighty souls, we will not fall! Our mountain, our world!”

The dragons spread around the cliff, slope and slowly hovering while roaring, with fire streaming from their nostrils. The cliff was packed with dragons.

“By the mountain’s blessing! For the mountain and for the king, we are dragons!” Wyrhgon roared.

“I thought that Wyrhgon was just words and no action. But here he is and he is taking the lead on the slope’s defence,” Birgitta said.

“Don’t judge people too quickly.” Beth smiled. “Or dragons.”

The rain pounded down ever harder.

“Tern, fighting in this rain on these slick slopes will be hell,” Beth said.

Birgitta leaned over the trench, scanning the field of battle. “Bend your knees even deeper and offset your feet wider. You don’t want to stumble down this slope and end up facing that army on your own.”

“I will keep my bubble close by,” Tern said.

Beth nodded, giving the cord a test tug.

“I will be your eyes in the sky. Calling out what happens and if you should move away or not. When you are locked in combat, you might miss the bigger picture stuff, as an incoming void torpedo,” Birgitta said.

“You are talking like you think I will die on this mountain slope,” Beth said.

Birgitta shook her head. “In that direction there are a lot more enemies than you usually fight. Yes, I am worried about you. I am worried about all of us.”

“I will be fine.” Beth stood up and looked upon the new battlefield. “They are forming ranks and formations. Both in the air and on the ground.”

Wyrhgon passed in front of them again, pausing mid wing flap briefly as he noticed them, maybe he was surprised that they survived the space battle, but then he turned back to his dragons instead. “Let them crash onto our mountain slopes. Let them stumble on these slick cliffs and let them shatter their heads on these jagged rocks. By the mountain’s blessing! We are dragons, let’s show them our might!”

“Incoming,” Birgitta said, still leaning out from the trench.

Both the flesh and boulder creatures had begun their climb up the slopes. Swarms and the omf’s machines approached by the air. Some omfs were among the ground forces, but not many, their companions were to take the brunt off the defenders.

“I feel the vibrations,” Beth said with a hand against the slope.

“Yes, yes. They are coming,” Birgitta said.

“By the mountain’s blessing!” Wyrhgon roared and half of his dragons took to the sky, charging against the airborne forces. They crashed into each other. Flames and liquid fire lit up the sky, their claws and teeth tore the enemies into pieces. Rays of scatter sliced dragons apart.

“I am with you, Beth.” Tern bumped lightly against her leg.

“I am with you, Tern,” Beth said, and leaped over the trench and stood face to face against the impossibly large army.

“They are armed with those twigs. They did a number on your metal skin last time. Try to avoid them,” Birgitta said.

Branch of Companionship, not twigs. But Beth was not in the mood to correct her.

Sweetness rushed into her mouth and her skin flowed into metal again, the familiar sense of strength gave her confidence the boost it needed. She kept her feet offset wider than usual and also her knees bent deeper, this combination provided her with extra balance on the slick slope. She grabbed lower on the cord and started swinging her mace in wide arcs, from side to side.

The enemies approached, they were hellbent on scaling the mountain, killing everything that stood in their path.

Two boulder creatures were first in line. Each of them were built with segmented bodies, built up with strung up boulders, but neither looked the same. Some had more legs than others and some had more arms than the others. Most of them had at least two heads, but some of them had four or more heads. They were large creatures, even larger than the flesh amalgamations. It looked like they had some kind of eye-like organs on their heads and faces. The eyes tracked her spinning mace. They expected her to simply throw it as they got close enough. How naive of them.

She swung faster and faster, drawing their attention even more to the mace. She made the movement to launch the mace, but didn’t let go. The boulder creatures tried shielding something that didn’t come at them.

Tern floated in and discharged his scatter energy, the circle of energy struck the two boulder creatures and which stumbled. They energy had missed her because of the slope’s inclination.

Beth swung the mace around and overhead smashed one of them. There was a shattering sound and pieces of rock flew into the air. She tugged the mace back.

The second one got up on its stone feet. She turned, flowing the momentum from the turn into the mace, and launched the mace from left. It struck true, cracking back its stony head.

“Help,” Tern mumbled across the mental channel.

Three flesh amalgamations were on top of him. He discharged his scatter energy and rounds of liquid plasma, but the creatures barely noticed the injuries they were piling up. As if their desire or focus to kill were higher prioritized than their will to live.

Beth launched the mace at the top of one’s neck before leaping into the pile. Her sweetness empowered kicks broke bones and whatever tissue her hands found were torn off their original owner. It took a moment, but afterwards she found herself standing beside Tern and covered in the creatures’ wet body parts and insides, while their black gas billowed out from their corpses.

Tern floated up again. “Thank you.”

“Saying they are hellbent feels like an understatement,” Beth said, while picking up her mace. A hairline crack had started to form on its head, the amount of microfractures inside the metal lump would be even worse. There was even some on the cord and its mounting. She took a moment to breathe. The water deposit was draining and her muscles were growing sore, but the day was far from over.

“Behind you!” Birgitta said.

Beth turned, but slipped on the slope. She landed hard on her back and her neck slammed into the rock, her vision turned foggy for a second. She launched the mace forward, at whatever blurry beings were approaching them.

Her vision sharpened and she struggled to her feet. A boulder creature’s stone arm swung at her.

Beth raised her hands and caught the arm, the weight behind it was huge, but her body kept its posture. She exchanged looks with the boulder creature, it was surprised, but the hesitation didn’t last. Its second arm came from the other side. She switched her grip and caught that arm as well. A shadow flew above them, she looked up and Wyrhgon had noticed her, but he was too locked in combat to help, but there was something in his facial expression. A change of heart, maybe?

The boulder creature pulled and moved its center of gravity, but Beth stood firm and snarled at it. She pulled her head back and struck its chest, her metal skin protected her against injuries, but the strike did little to phaze the creature. The boulder creature prepared its own headbutt. As its head came forward, Beth let go and crouched. The creature stumbled forward with all that additional momentum and landed on its face.

Before she could finish off the enemy, a flesh amalgamation was already in front of her. She grabbed the down boulder creature’s leg and threw its body into the new enemy, sending both of them rolling down the slope.

Beth had somehow moved forward doing the brief battle, since now enemies rushed from behind her as well. She turned too slow to catch the incoming boulder creature’s arm, it struck her back and she stumbled down on a knee. The pain shot through her right side, but nothing felt broken. She bit down and tugged back her mace and turned, prepared an upwards going swing. But the creature’s head was already gone and it’s boulder strewn body fell into pieces. Liquid plasma streamed down its remains.

Tern floated behind the creature. “Why do human bodies lack eye organs in the back of their neck? Feels like an oversight.”

Beth coughed, using the mace to get up on her feet again. “Tell that to evolution.”

Another boulder creature appeared in front of her and she raised her mace for another swing.

“Mine!” Elzrig yelled.

The blue dragon flew through the air like a heat seeking missile, avoiding any beams that were fired at him with smooth, graciously performed movements, almost as if he danced his way through the threats and the battlefield. Elzrig reached for the boulder creature’s joints with his two front claws. The sharp claws cut something inside the joints which held together the separate boulders of the creature. The boulder creature fell to the ground in pieces.

Elzrig landed beside her, even his landing looked gracious and precise. “Human fingers are as small as the point of my claws and you look strong. Pry your fingers between the joints of the boulders and yank them apart. The bonds break more easily than you would think on these golems.”

Beth stepped up to the next golem, sidestepped to avoid its initial attack and then she pried her fingers between the boulder which looked like its head and torso. There was some soft tissue between them. But finding the right leverage was not easy, but when she did she pulled. The golem’s head flew off.

“Not as effective as my mace, but I will remember the trick. Thanks, Elzrig,” Beth said.

Elzrig nodded and took to the sky with a few flapps of his wings.

“Stay still. I am coming in for a bomb run,” Leo said, breaking the brief quiet moment.

The shuttle flew across the battlefield in the air. Dodging laser beams and angry dragons alike. Beth turned back to the slope. Several more enemies were rushing up the slope. She offset her feet again and started spinning the mace. But she never had time to launch it. A carpet of liquid fire rained down over the rushing enemies, the pounding rain had little effect on it.

“Good work, Leo!” Birgitta yelled.

“Yes, thank you.” Beth seized the moment to try to relax. The battle was taxing.

“Just doing my job, crew,” Leo said.

Tern floated back to her side. “More enemies.”

An insect-like swarm charged her, it looked just like the swarms that had once belonged to their old clan, the Devou Clan. The swarm carried a Branch of Companionship within itself. Beth stepped forward and swung her mace, perfectly aligned with the incoming being. But the mace met no resistance and simply passed through the swarm, before striking hard into the slope underneath. The swarm crashed into her, thousands of the tiny beings were picking at her metal skin. It did more than tingle, they hurt. The twig erupted and the fiery beam struck her chest, she fell backward and out from the swarm. The back of her head hit the slope and her vision shook, also, her mace and its cord was not in her hands anymore. She felt at her chest, there was no burning sensation, but the twig’s discharge had carved a shallow crater, not enough to puncture the metal skin, but the area around had been weakened.

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The swarm’s shadow was cast over her as it neared.

“Tern! Help!” Beth yelled into the mental channel.

Tern accelerated through and over the battlefield, Beth caught the motion in the side of her vision. The omf rolled to the side, avoiding an incoming laser beam.

The swarm stopped and aligned its Branch of Companionship at her. If she moved too early they would be able to track the movement and readjust before firing. Beth swallowed and waited another second, a fiery beam erupted from the twig and in the last second threw herself to the side. The beam dug a hole into the slope, displacing the very atoms of the rock and dust.

Tern crashed into the swarm and discharged his scattering beam, which shot out like a ring of energy. But the swarm avoided the superheated laser by scattering around it and then re-forming to its original shape.

Tern discharged his microwave weapon, but the swarm dodged that as well. “Nothing is working!”

The mace was lying underneath them, as they were locked away in their struggle. What if she spun it really, really fast and blended those bugs?

“I have a plan! Hold out!” Beth yelled.

Beth leaped forward and after it. She reached, her finger touched the cord, but something tugged her back and she went flying in the opposite direction, before coming to a skidding halt on the slope. A golem turned to her and brandishing its rocky arms. She saw how Tern struggled behind her stone opponent and how the omf was losing the fight. She didn’t have time for this!

The golem charged, holding its arms up high. Beth dove forward and between its legs, rolling over the rocky surface. She came up on her feet immediately and went into a run, the distance between her and the golem grew fast.

“Tern, I am coming!” Beth yelled.

Her mace and its bundled up cord were still lying underneath Tern and the swarm. She leaped and dove for it. Her hand made contact and she turned around, with her back against the slope and started spinning the mace.

A torrent of violent fire splashed over Tern and the swarm. Beth stopped the spin and rolled away from the swarm, as the fire dripped over her and every drop that made contact stung through her metal skin.

“These things,” Rahgon said, another stream of liquid fire erupted from her nostrils and burnt the swarm, Tern flew away from the fiery hell. “They are only good for kindling.”

Tern floated up to Beth. “Well, you almost had it.”

“Ahh, I had it. I had this idea that I was going to blend those small bugs,” Beth said.

“I am pretty sure those are not bugs,” Tern said, turning to the red scaled dragon. “Rahgon, thanks for the help.”

Beth nodded in her direction. “Yes, your fire was a bit more effective than whatever we threw at that thing.”

Rahgon roared into the sky. “That was nothing. The battle is far from over.” The red dragon took to the sky with two hefty flaps of her wings.

The remains of the swarm were still smoldering on the slope surface.

Beth looked down the slope again. “This will only end in one way. There are too many of them. Way too many.”

“We will keep fighting until it’s over,” Tern said.

“You are right about that.” Beth launched her mace into the incoming horde.

-

The strike to her right side and back must have done a number inside her. Her metal skin had not torn, but the pain kept throbbing, as if something was broken or almost broken inside. It could be a rib. But it had not snapped off, because that would have hurt properly, this was simply an annoyance. every time she performed a larger sweeping motion with her right arm, the pain shot through her side again.

“Duck!” Birgitta yelled.

Beth threw herself to the ground, pulling down Tern with her. The twig’s fiery beam went above them and missed by several centimeters. A flesh amalgamation towered over them by their side with the twig in its many hands.

The flesh amalgamation stepped forward and realigned the twig. Beth reached, grabbed and pulled at its feet. The slippery slope helped her. The enemy fell backwards, striking the back of its head on the hard rock.

She pushed Tern forward and he discharged liquid plasma across the flesh amaglamation’s body, and after a series of convulsions the creature died.

“Thanks for saving me,” Tern said. “And Birgitta, thanks for being so observant.”

“Teamwork. We save each other,” Birgitta said. “Be vigilant. On your left, Beth. You have performed the overhead smash a few times in a row. Fake an overhead smash and sweep it from the side instead.”

“Good idea,” Beth mumbled, a bit annoyed that she had not thought about it herself. The prolonged battle drained her, making complex thinking difficult.

Beth swung the mace up, preparing to slam it down on the incoming boulder creature’s head. But in the last moment she pulled it back and turned, translating the momentum into a sweep instead.

A pain shot through her right side just as the arm extended to its fullest reach. The sweep lost some of its momentum and it was not enough to knock the boulder creature off its feet.

She rolled to the side, avoiding the incoming rock arm and the blast from its twig. Avoiding cost her body less energy than blocking and catching heavy arms. She needed to spare as much energy and sweetness as she could. She had tried adapting her fighting style for this purpose.

“The cord has snagged on the creature’s leg. Roll under the next attack and tug back the mace. Tern, fly into its chest at the same time,” Birgitta said.

Beth grunted as she rolled forward, avoiding the low sweep. She grabbed the cord and tugged as she exited the roll. The boulder creature stumbled backwards and in mid-fall Tern crashed into its chest, sending the creature rolling down the slope.

“Good call,” Beth said. “Way more efficient than slamming it into pieces.”

She came to her feet and massaged her right side. The pain kept shooting through her, hindering her motions. It was more than an annoyance. But she had to keep going.

“We keep going,” Tern said.

Beth nodded.

A vibration shot through the mountain’s slope. The combatants hesitated and turned to the giant dust cloud, but it withered away, revealing one of the households black spheres had landed right on the slope. The side of it folded open and more enemies poured out.

Leo and the shuttle flew over it, dropping munitions of liquid dragon fire. But it barely slowed them.

“Are the dragons failing?” Beth said. “Their swarms and cannons were supposed to keep them away from landing on the mountain!”

If they were able to land right on top of them, reinforcements were close by at all times. And the waves of enemies that poured up the slope would intensify.

“More households have closed the distance to the planet,” Tern said. “We are slowly failing in all fields of battle. I will help them.”

Tern floated off, discharging his weapons at every enemy that was unfortunate enough to be in his path. And then charged into the new wave.

Beth gripped the mace tighter and she let the sweetness turn into a flood again. She had found out that if she slowed the sweetness into a trickle whenever there was a pause in the fighting, she slowed its drain. It left her open for attacks, but she had to risk it.

“Look up!” Birgitta said.

It was not Leo and the shuttle, she referred to. But instead the black sphere that fell through the atmosphere. A single dragon clung to its side, fighting desperately to tear the entire thing into pieces. Red scales and that size. It could only be Rahgon. Rahgon tore off another section of the sphere, letting the sheet fall away.

Tern was still locked in combat.

Beth switched to her left, her unharmed side, and grabbed lower on the cord and started spinning up the mace. “We cannot let more of them land.”

Faster and faster, she spun the mace.

“What do you have in mind?” Birgitta said.

Even faster. The mace crushed through the air, making a distinct sound. She let the sweetness rush into her without holding it back.

“Tern, keep the slope safe. I shall return,” Beth said.

“Ohh. But Beth. I know we have talked about this before. Even if you are able to get up there, how are you going to come down?” Birgitta said.

Faster. Stronger.

“I will figure it out,” Beth said.

Beth roared and launched the mace straight up, aimed at the falling sphere. She turned the sweetness to a trickle instead, she couldn’t be too strong for the next part. She grabbed and held onto the cord with as little sweetness as she dared. Instead of the mace slowing down and being pulled back, she was pulled off the ground and into the air.

Beth flew. The mace’s massive momentum pulled her up. She looked down at the battlefield. It was a mess, a clusterfuck of dragons, omfs and other creatures. So many bodies, so many beings fighting for survival. She shook her head and turned her attention up again. She approached the sphere fast.

Her mace, with her attached to the cord, flew past the sphere’s outer surface, but it was close enough. The sweetness was turned into a flood again and she reached for the sphere. Her hand caught something and she pulled back the mace, negating all its momentum.

She pulled herself on top of the sphere. Rahgon’s tail swept above her head, but she kept her balance.

“Watch where you aim!” Beth said on the shared mental channel.

Rahgon turned her massive body, pieces of an omf fell from between her teeth. “You? You don’t have wings.”

Beth raised her mace and slammed it down on the sphere. The rent which Rahgon had already created grew longer across the sphere’s middle.

“You should stop being surprised about us humans,” Beth said.

Rahgon roared and sent another torrent of liquid fire through the sphere’s rent. The sound of metallic grinding meant that the omf crew suffered.

Beth slammed down again. The rent grew around the sphere a bit more.

“I know how you feel about humans,” Beth said. “But I will need a lift down. I don’t have to sit on your back. My skin is tough, your mouth will be fine.”

The omfs poured out from the rent and charged at them, weapons blasting.

Rahgon bit after them, but couldn’t get them all.

Beth leaped up and over one, avoiding its scatter energy. She landed behind it and raised her mace with her right arm, preparing to shatter it. Her swing was wide and strong. But the pain shot through her right side as she committed to it

She stumbled and her mace tumbled across the sphere’s surface, before falling off the side and down to the battlefield below. An omf crashed forcefully on her left leg, discharging its scatter energy. A new pain shot through her body, originating from her left foot.

She screamed.

Rahgon plucked the omf away from her and it shattered between her teeth.

Beth tried to get up on her feet. But as she put weight on the left foot, it gave away. “Fuck!”

She was lifted up in Rahgon’s wide mouth. The warm breath of the dragon swept at her like a wind and the inside smelled like burnt metal.

“I have you,” Rahgon said.

Rahgon brought down her claw a final time. The rent exploded across and through the middle of the sphere, tearing the entire thing in half. With a flap of her wings she created distance from the falling sphere. The omfs’ companions jumped and fell to their death.

Rahgon took her down and back to Birgitta.

Birgitta saw the crack in her metal skin. “Oh no. How are you?”

“Give me a minute and I will be fine,” Beth said, with Birgitta’s help she was able to place weight on the foot again. “Thanks for the ride, Rahgon.”

Rahgon roared. “Always.” And flew off again, its flapping wings pushing them backwards.

“Set me down for a minute,” Beth said.

Tern came floating off the slope and over the cliff side. “Beth!”

She had not noticed before, but Tern’s shell was dented and scratched, a module was even warped in its socket. The damage was bad, she saw several centimeters into him.

“You are hurt.” Tern floated up to her.

“You are hurt,” Beth said. “I am fine.”

Beth gave Birgitta a light shove and struggled to her feet on her own. The pain throbbed through her foot and up along the leg. She clenched her jaw, ignoring it. It was manageable, it had to be.

“I lost the mace again,” Beth said. “Let’s go back into it.”

They walked out to the cliff’s ledge. The battle was much closer up the slope than it had been earlier. Dragons climbed up the slope and above the ledge.

“We have lost the slopes,” Beth said.

“They are approaching from the other side of the mountain range as well,” Leo said, from his vantage point in the sky.

Beth looked into her mind, the water deposit was about half way drained. Her adventure up into the sky and the assault to the falling black sphere had been costly. But the effort had lightened the rush of reinforcements. Still, they had lost the slopes. They just had to keep going.

“It’s as Milo used to say: ‘This is the new grind’. We just need to keep churning and turning the wheels. The enemy will be grounded into minced meat when we are done,” Beth said. “But I will need a new weapon before facing them again. We have not needed to bring a spare since the cord was invented. Kind of stupid of us not to think this ahead.”

Birgitta sighed. “Even my intellect can fail. Sometimes. But not often.”

Tern floated forward, brushing against her thigh where the twig’s holster was still attached to her. How the holster had not broken during the charge in space and the assault at the slopes, eluded her. “Beth, the Branch of Companionship. Use it.”

The holster opened easily enough and she reached for its wooden handle. It had the texture and weight of a normal, Earth-like and healthy tree branch. Not dried up, but not rotten either. To discharge its deadly blast, all she had to do was to think of the trigger word. But it had nothing in conjunction with her power, it didn’t work in tandem with it or enhanced it. Yes, she could use the tool, but all her training, talents and skills from using the tools which she was used to, they didn’t translate. There was little synergy to be had, for her usage of the Branch of Companionship. Her mace would have worked much better.

Beth studied the twig in the pouring rain. A Branch of Companionship. “I will need something else to aid me in battle. This will not hold. Even though it has miraculously not snapped during this portion of the battle, there is no guarantee that will hold for long.”

“There is a dead dragon just right where the slope meets the cliff ledge. Their claws have shown to be very durable and they look about the weight you are used to. The curved design and the sharp point might throw you off at first,” Birgitta said.

Re-purposing the corpses of the fallen was a classical proverb within the omf community and the core of which their companionships were built upon. If Beth died, Tern would be there to absorb her body before it wasted away.

“Perfect,” Beth said.

Tern floated by her side as she walked the distance. “Great, idea, Birgitta.”

Beth holstered the twig again before grabbing onto the giant claw. Hard and deadly, it felt. The pointy end was sharp. But the claw must be sturdy, having outlived its former owner.

“They might get angry with you. The dragons. For mutilating their dead,” Birgitta said.

“Screw it. Dead is dead and this is war,” Beth said.

A projectile crashed into a mountain peak nearby, Beth turned too slow, a mountain fragment the size of their shuttle crashed into her and sent her over the cliff’s edge.

She tumbled down the slope, trying to shield herself with her arms, but she kept rolling. Until she didn’t.

“Die!” Argus yelled. Of course it was him again.

His energy weapon glanced off her metal skin as she jumped to her feet. He closed the distance and raised his bubble around her.

She cracked her knuckles and stepped forward. “Stupid. Now you are stuck here with me.”

“Wrong.” Argus launched up, with her still trapped inside the bubble. The momentum pulled her down to the floor’s bottom, she stumbled.

There was nothing to grip on, just a buttery smooth bubble around them and Argus, of course. But the bubble moved with him. She reached for him, but then he spun them and the bubble, sending her rolling along the smooth surface.

If she only had her mace.

Beth pulled her Branch of Companionship and sent the trigger word.

Argus rolled the bubble again, three full laps.

The displacement beam went wide and she lost her grip on the twig, it went hurling freely inside the bubble.

“You destroyed the Devou Clan,” Argus said.

“I did not.” Beth tried getting back to her feet, but she kept stumbling as Argus kept rolling and shifting their speed, and kept ascending.

They were going up. Into space.

“You speak of lies and will be punished for it and all your evil deeds,” Argus said.

The bubble disengaged and she fell.

Argus had not dropped her off in space, but high up in the atmosphere.

Beth fell and was provided with the grandest of views of the battlefield and world below. The mountain range really did extend wide and far, as far she saw. The twig fell with her and came within her reach, she grabbed and holstered it. Argus was long gone and would watch her fall from a safe distance.

Her descent meant friction against the air, a sudden heat surged around her and grew hotter.

Her metal skin held tight, but the heat grew.

And the ground grew closer and closer.

She needed to reduce her speed. She spread her limbs in all directions, trying to make herself as big as possible, using the air friction to slow her fall. This made the heat almost unbearable. She bit down and kept her limbs locked in position.

The battlefield below was huge and the invading army vast. Creatures and machines clashing against dragons. As she fell, she passed beings locked in struggle. She heard their roars and discharge of weaponry. Agony and pain.

“Beth!” Tern yelled.

He could catch her. But he was not flying to her rescue.

“Get off me!” Tern yelled.

He was locked in combat.

The realization came to her. She would have to sort out her landing by herself. And landing with her limbs spread in this manner, might sever them from her body. Not a nice thought. She tucked everything in and formed herself as a ball.

She fell as a meteorite.

And crashed as one.

“Beth?” Tern asked.

She came to. Multiple shadows hovered above her. Dragons and Tern.

Beth struggled to her feet, using Tern for leverage. She had landed on top of the mountain and created a crater five meters deep.

“They are surprised that you survived,” Tern said.

Beth brushed away the dust from her clothing. “They could have helped. Argus has the ability to show up when I, we, are not ready for him.”

“You almost mutilated one of their dead, they don’t like that. Thus, you were left alone,” Tern said. “It is almost as if he stays at a distance and goes for the kill whenever your guard is down or when you are in a compromising position. He is clever. He wants the credit of killing you, but minimizing the risks for himself.”

Beth nodded and took a few steps, her limp had worsened, but at least she was still alive. A shuttle sized mountain fragment had struck her while she had been standing beside the dragon corpse, but the corpse was still lying on the same spot. She walked over to it.

The sweetness rushed back into her mouth and with one single pull, the claw came of its owner’s paw. It was heavy. She turned it over in her hands, holding onto the slimmer end and thus the point was pointing down to the ground and the widening and heavier end held upwards.

“This will serve well.” Beth placed and rested most of the weight against her shoulder, thus making it possible for her to turn the sweetness into a trickle, without risking dropping the dragon claw. She pulled the twig with her free hand and turned back to the battlefield. The omfs and their companions were regrouping. More boulder creatures and flesh amalgamations were forming a uniformed line. They would be on top of them any moment now.

Beth made her way back to the ledge. Rahgon landed beside her with a heavy thud, making the surface shake.

Rahgon snarled at her, showing teeth. The big, red scaled dragon was injured. Several gashes were sliced into her forelimbs and paws, there was even blood trickling down her face. This battle took its toll on all of them.

Rahgon kept her snarled going, her eyes locked on the dragon claw in Beth’s hand. “Not good of you. Not good at all.”

Elzrig landed on the other side, his blue scales seemed deeper in color as they had gotten wet by the rain. “I agree. It is stupid to risk the dragons’ rage when they are already enraged.”

More dragons landed on the cliff ledge, forming a line with several layers of dragons behind. The line extended to the sides, going up and down the peaks and jagged rocks. They all kept their distance to Beth and the few times they looked in her direction, they saw the claw and snarled.

“Not good,” Rahgon repeated and stepped further away from her.

Beth didn’t give in to their supersticion, there was no reason for her to grow angry or voice her opinion, as long as they didn’t try to wrench the new weapon from her hands.

“You might find that was a mistake, human,” Wyrhgon said from atop a nearby peak. He had only sustained a few cuts and slices, which was far from as much as Rahgon or Beth had endured.

Beth turned away from their condescending eyes and looked upon the incoming ranks of enemies. Rahgon and Wyrhgon had looked like mortal enemies before, but when it came to the defence of their mountain and the following of their surpersitucius rules, they united. All the dragons did, it looked like. If any of them tried to kill her in the middle of the chaotic battle, she would have to show them the true might of mankind. Battling between each other when locked in combat by an invading force wouldn’t improve their chances of survival.

“I have found a new vantage point,” Birgatta announced.

“I will be coming in for a new fire run,” Leo said.

Tern brushed up against her leg. “We will fight together.”

Beth nodded and re-gripped the dragon claw. She offset her feet again, but a sharp pain shot up her leg. But she endured, as she had always done before.