The airship trembled upon landing, causing the foul liquids in its bowels to slosh violently. The commotion elicited groans and curses from both the dwarf and the wizard concealed below. Gimona Grimmail began sputtering, spitting in disgust. Magus Craycroft sighed and leaned over to peek through the porthole overhead.

“I think we’ve reached our destination,” Craycroft murmured, his voice unnecessary against the cacophony of battle outside.

“Piss in me mouth, it’s piss!” Gimona continued, spitting in revulsion. “We’ve been stowing away in piss and shite for nearly a week now. I need out! I need me a fuckin’ ale—a strong one at that. Anything to get this taste out of me mouth. An’ I’ll be needin’ to soak me beard in ale just to get rid of the smell.”

“Keep your voice down,” Craycroft hissed, his eyes flicking between the latrine’s makeshift porthole and the fuming dwarf.

Gimona shot back with a scoff, “An’ who’d be hearin’ me, ye daft git?”

Before she could continue, two green arms broke the surface of the muck. A frog-faced creature emerged next, yawning widely and gurgling in the vile brew teeming with debris. Vorigan, looking groggy and disheveled, slowly stood up, scratching his backside absentmindedly as he took in his surroundings.

“Aye, get your green arse out of me face,” Gimona snapped.

Vorigan cocked his head towards her, pausing for a long moment before shrugging dismissively. He then plunged back beneath the surface of the filth, splashing it indiscriminately as the other two cursed in disgust. Muck rose up to Gimona’s neck, and she wished she could strangle that amphibian. Sadly, being a dwarf, she was already on tiptoes, barely keeping her head above the sewage. She swore under her breath that she’d kill that wretched creature. Suddenly, the ground beneath her shifted; a whirlpool of sewage spun violently, dragging Gimona and Craycroft beneath the surface.

With a sudden splash, the two slammed into dirt and rock as the airship emptied its septic hold, the last remnants of sewage dripping out. Gimona pushed herself up from her belly and flopped onto her back, gasping for air. As her vision cleared, she found Vorigan—the frog-faced creature—smiling down at them, his grin unsettling in the dim light.

Craycroft began muttering something incomprehensible to Gimona, but her focus remained on Vorigan. As she climbed to her feet, cursing under her breath at the frog-faced creature, she suddenly paused. Vorigan crouched low, his attention snapping to something in the distance.

Following his gaze, Gimona spotted a group of Slaethians: a high elf woman and a wood elf male. She was about to dismiss them altogether when she noticed the General among them. What puzzled her was not their appearance but Vorigan’s reaction. Although she had only known the amphibian for about a week, his usual carefree and somewhat timid demeanor was nowhere to be seen. Instead, something different flickered in his eyes—was it anger?

“What’s it?” she whispered.

Vorigan growled back, “Traitors.”

Craycroft stood, wiping his soaked, tattered robes as he spoke, his tone flat but tinged with irony. “Hate to break it to you, but Gimona and I might also fit that description.”

With a deep breath, Vorigan’s shoulders slumped, signaling a return to his usual carefree, nonchalant demeanor—easily mistaken for meekness. Without a word, he turned and started ambling away in the opposite direction. Craycroft and Gimona exchanged a look of resigned understanding, then simultaneously shook their heads and trailed after the frog man.

~

I was in—well, I was in a bit of shock. I had utterly gotten my ass handed to me, and now, standing above me like some heroic figure, was Sophia. Out of anyone to save my ass, I hadn’t expected her. Though, to be honest, out of the original group of us, she was probably the least likely to hold a grudge against me, so there’s at least that, right?

And seriously, what was with all the spirits? I glanced around, noticing a small army of ghostly aberrations, with many more still materializing. Sophia had commanded a few before, maybe a dozen or so, but I hadn’t known she could summon so many of them.

I say we eat her!

Nightmare, we’re already in a committed relationship. We’ll be eating Aurelia after this.

No, Dream, I mean—eat her!

What—why?

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Well... That’s an awfully sweet skill she’s got there.

Really? She’s an ally. Besides, I think there’s something off about her.

So? I don’t care, unless it’s HPV, I say we go for it.

What do you mean, ‘so’? Wait, weren’t you talking about eating her, not eating her out?

Yes!

…I’ll think about it.

“Dang, Sophia, you really saved my ass there,” I said with a smile as I reformed my gnome-sized body.

“You’re more than welcome,” she smiled back. “I’m just glad we made it here in time.”

“We?” I asked.

“Hello, my beloved,” a soothing, seductive voice purred. I stiffened as if caught doing something naughty. I slowly turned to find Aurelia standing there like a dark blood goddess, her gaze fixed in the direction where Fire Crotch had been sent flying.

“H-Hi,” I stammered, struggling to conceal my nervous guilt behind a smile. “Honestly, I wasn’t planning to eat Sophia... Nope. Nope, certainly not.”

Damn, she really does sound like Elizabeth Hurley.

I know, right! Too bad Sophia’s now off the menu.

What—why?

I think I just figured out what’s off about her.

What?

Look at those fangs.

What fangs—oh, shit.

Yep!

Well, damnit. And I really wanted to see if we could devour that skill.

“What do you mean, you weren’t planning on eating Sophia,” Aurelia cooed.

Oh shit, did we say that out loud?

Fuck!

What do we do?

Play cute!

What?

I drew my tiny, infant-sized arms behind my adorably cute body, gently rocking back and forth while biting my bottom lip. Giving Aurelia the biggest, most irresistible doll eyes—a feat that would surely make any cartoon artist envious—I swayed once more. Holding back a grin, I noticed her struggling not to smile at my antics. Then, stretching my arms toward my beloved, I uttered the one word I hoped could mend it all: “Up!”

Aurelia opened her mouth to speak, but her gaze suddenly shifted, widening as it moved past me. She stepped around me, her movements slow and deliberate, while I stood with my arms outstretched, still hoping to be lifted up. I watched as she reached down and plucked a ring from the ground.

“What do you have there?” Sophia asked.

“My ring,” Aurelia whispered, her voice tinged with relief. “Lord Demidicus gave it to me the night I was acknowledged as an elder. I thought I had lost it.”

“Oh, it was in my dimensional storage along with… well, shit,” I muttered, glancing back at the spot where Orlaith was pulling herself up, “That bitch stole my dungeon core,” I cursed under my breath. “I need that back!”

Orlaith flapped her wings once and spread them wide, creating a formidable silhouette that remained distinctly imposing, even from several football fields away. Simultaneously, a fire glow began to flicker around her, as if everything in her presence was on the brink of combusting into flames. Feeling utterly out of my element, I could only droop my head in resignation.

Glancing between Aurelia and Sophia, I felt compelled to ask the most pressing question. “So, uh, how long will this eclipse last?”

“Don’t worry, my love,” Aurelia reassured. “Celestis’ orbit mirrors our own. It’ll follow behind Völuspá, casting its shadow over us and shielding us from the sun’s glare. Here on Nyxoria, it’s quite rare to have more than a few hours of daylight.”

“Crazy,” I muttered. “Well, ladies, I don’t suppose you’ve seen a corpse lying around for me to eat, have you? I’m feeling a bit peckish right now.”

“What, you’re not staying for the fight?” Sophia teased.

“Nope!” I shook my head. “I want nothing to do with that flaming bitch. Besides, I know my Aurelia can handle her without any issues.” I smiled. “Though, dibs on her corpse!”

Aurelia let out a soft giggle as she swept her hand out behind her as if it were nothing, and suddenly over a dozen bodies fell out of the air. I blinked in confusion as I stared at the bodies, noticing they looked awfully like Slaethian soldiers. Cocking my head up at Aurelia, she smiled, and in a teasing tone, she offered, “What? You didn’t think you were the only one with a dimension storage, did you?”

“Well, yeah, I sort of did,” I nodded before happily diving into the pile of corpses, letting my body dissolve hungrily into them. It was like swimming through a pile of dissolving meat, like sliding a wet finger into—cotton candy!

Cotton candy? Nightmare, what the hell? I was going to say—

Nope, doesn’t matter!

Ugh! You’re such a prude. Are you sure we’re the same person?

Happily filling myself with all the food offered to me, I could feel my mass returning as body by body dissolved away into me. Though, I did take my time with the intestines while I melted through everything else—what? A girl’s got to have some indulgences. My meal was suddenly interrupted when the ground shook, signaling that perhaps indulging wasn’t the best idea right now.

Not bothering to poke my head up, I instead grew a tentacle and attached Mana Sight to the tip, giving me my all-too-favorite periscope view. It turned out that Sophia’s spirits had charged the fire lady, and despite getting the drop on her earlier, they weren’t faring too hot now—well, I guess hot wasn’t the issue. As for Aurelia and Sophia, they both stood back, looking unfazed and unworried, so I returned to my meal.

~

Zarathos roared in anger as he observed his champion battling on that wretched backwater moon. He had bestowed upon her his blessing to burn the vampires’ nest to the ground before returning to the empire with the rest of the imperial fleet alongside the pesky pixy fairy of a champion, Galen. But things were not going as he had envisioned. Worse, that blob of a dark creature had withstood Orlaith’s fire essence. That could not be allowed to stand.

The dragon god growled in anger as his tail thrashed about. Defying the council was of no concern to him now. If his champion were to lose, he’d take matters into his own claws and burn that moon to ash. There were no gods there who could stop him, after all. To hell with the treaties and accords keeping the ascended from acting directly. These games needed to end, and a war between the gods needed to begin.

A cold, burning fire began to smolder in Zarathos’ eyes as he turned his gaze toward Nyxoria.