MS. FADDEN
“Vampire vampire!” One of the sensor technicians shouted from his console. “It's coming! They—the Chistani they--”
“They fired it,” Ms. Fadden said. “The planet killer.”
Normally she would have scolded the sensor technician for failing to deliver a proper report, but what was the point now? They didn't have anything capable of repelling a planet killer. Most worlds didn't, they were notoriously resistant to being shot out of the air. In a few moments it would strike the ground....and keep going. It would burrow through the crust and mantle of the planet until it worked its way to the planet's core. Where it would release the chemical and radioactive isotope cocktail that turned planetary cores into enormous bombs, ripping Trego apart from the inside out.
“Uhm, yes,” the sensor tech said, getting control of himself and pressing a few buttons to call the missile's path up on screen. “Point of impact, uh, not to far from here. From a spot where we're reading massive auram fluctuations. There's a village out there...”
“Tragam,” Ms. Fadden said. “They're dropping it right on Balthazar Nodd's head. Just to be certain.”
She watched the innocuous dotted line that heralded the end of her world with a surreal sense of bemusement. Now what? There was nothing to do. She'd played every card she had to play and the Chistani hadn't even bothered to call her back. She fell to her knees, eyes locked at the screen, as if somehow by looking away she would make the end come even faster. She watched the line intersect with the map of the planet.
There was a slight tremor. That would be the missile's initial impact. And then...
Nothing.
“Ma'am!” The sensor tech said. “Ma'am, it's...negative impact! Negative impact! The missile didn't penetrate the crust!”
“What?” Ms. Fadden snapped, climbing to her feet. “Was it a dud?”
“I don't know ma'am but it didn't work!” The sensor tech said. “I don't...wait! New contact!”
“Did the Chistani fire again?” She demanded.
“No ma'am!” the sensor tech said. “It looks like somebody's returning fire!”
The tracked the path of a new projectile, this one coming upfrom the planet, until it intersected with the icon marking the location of the Chistani destroyer. The icon disappeared from the screen.
“The Chistani vessel...it's gone ma'am,” the sensor tech said incredulously. “It just...whatever hit it ripped the whole thing apart.”
“What the hell is going on?”She said out loud, but there was no answer.
And then the ground started shaking.
VERRO
Verro looked J'vann up and down. Yeeeeup. No doubt about it, he was a tree.
Verro didn't really know what to do about that.
But a tree was at least alive, right? That roots thing was some special healing power that came with J'vanns Regalia wasn't it? And that was...good? That was all the information he had to go on when it came to people turning into trees. He decided to turn his attention to Fann.
When he could keep his eyes off the battle. The pirate and the—the twelve foot tall werewolf-thing Sasha had turned herself into, whatever someone wanted to call it—were busily trying to tear each other to pieces. Sasha was all instinct, roars and snarls, slashing claws and last second dodges. She was unbelievably fast for someone normal sized, let alone a fourteen foot monstrosity, and Vero was sure the least of her swipes could crush him flat.
But Balthazar took the blows and gave them right back, smashing Sahsa's monsterous body through building after building, and despite all the hits she was getting in Sasha was losing ground.
I don't care what she said, Verro said. I have to help. Once I've got some first aid done on Fann I'll...
“Wait...” a horse voice croaked. “Verro...”
Verro turned back to the tree. The wooden knob molded J'vann's head had turned towards him, eyes open to reveal eerie wooden eyes.
“J'vann?” Verro said. “Are you okay?”
“I will survive,” J'vann rasped. “For a moment I thought this was...that this was the end, and I would put down roots forever.”
“Wait what?” Verro said. “If you die you'll turn into a tree?”
“In the moment before death I will become one with the root of Yggdrasil I carry inside me,” J'vann said. “It will grant renewed life, but if I am too damaged to walk among the living again then yes, I will become a tree. A sapling of Yggdrasil.”
“Holy...” Verro didn't even know what words could cover that information. “You didn't tell us that's what the root thing was!”
“When I accepted Verdant Regalia I accepted this fate as well,” J'vann said, and while his current body couldn't shrug he still somehow conveyed the feelingof one. “The beast fighting Balthazar resembles Sasha. A hidden power of her regalia?”
“Yeah,” Verro said. “She says she can't control it and we're not supposed to do anything to draw her attention.”
“She has clawed our enemy's skin,” J'vann said. “Many times. But we will need something more to defeat him. I am making no suggestions because I have no ideas. Is...is Fann alive?”
“Yeah,” Verro smiled. “He's alive. But he's pretty banged up. He got pretty badly messed up when, uh...”
“He was seeking vengeance for me,” J'vann said. “Wasn't he?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Yeah,” Verro sighed. “Yeah he was. Aside from you, he's the worst injured right now. I dunno does “tree” beat broken bones and busted eardrums?”
“Can you bring him to me?” J'vann asked. “I have reasons beyond the sentimental for asking this.”
“Uh, I can try,” Verro said, looking down at his battered arms. “Just a second.”
He ran over to where Fann lay in a tangled heap. Verro didn't know if it was safe to move him, but it was hard to image the Bat Knight bleeding out any faster. Besides it wasn't like he had any idea on where to start putting Fann back together in the first place. The strain on his arms was agony but he lifted Fann on his back.
“It's a good think you're so small and skinny,” Verro said hoarsely through the pain.
“Place him at the base of my trunk,” J'vann said, and once Verro had complied the leafy branches growing from where the Verdant Knight's forearms used to be reached down to wrap the Bat Knight in an embrace until he rested in a bed of leaves. A faint sparkling glow rose from J'vann and his leaves and branches, extending to cover Fann's unconscious form.
“What are you doing?” Verro asked.
“Right now my body has become a fountain of auram,” J'vann said. “The auram of Yggdrasil itself, pure healing and growth. It cannot restore him completely but it can ease his pain, mend the least of his wounds, and keep him from death.”
“Oh,” Verro said. “Handy.”
“Was that a pun?” J'vann smiled. “About my current lack of hands? Speaking of which, your arms seem hurt as well. You are welcome to take what aide my auram can grant.
Verro hesitated. On the one hand, his arms hurting even the tiniest bit less might mean he could get back into the fight. On the other hand, reaching into the branches wrapped so caringly around Fann felt...intrusive.
“Merely resting your arms on the outside of my trunk will convey the benefits,” J'vann said, understanding his hesitation. Verro rested his arms on the part of J'vann's arm that was still one solid peace. The light glowing off the Verdant Knight's body didfeel like it was doing him some good, the pains in his arms were easing already...
A blue-white scar tore open the sky. Sasha snarled and glared in it's direction. Balthazar took the opportunity to land solid hits, two to the chest and an uppercut to the chin that sent the the Wolf Knight's monstrous form reeling backwards. When she still didn't fall he ran in, planting his fist right in the middle of her face. There was a crunching noise and she fell backwards into the wreckage of a building.
Only then did he turn his attention to the light in the sky. A dark shape was slowly becoming visible at the center of it.
The Chistani, Verro realized. The planet killer. We're too late.
It was close enough for Verro's Regalia enhanced eyes to pick out details. For something with such a grandiose purpose it wasn't all that impressive looking. A ten foot shaft, bulking just before it tapered down to the head to accommodate a sphere of deep ocean-blue material that made up the lethal payload. He let go of J'vann's bark and raised his bow, calling on a missile arrow. He wasn't sure if even that would be enough to destroy the planet killer before it landed, but in the end it didn't matter. His arms shook, and he missed, the missile continuing on its lethal course unimpeded.
Until Balthazar Nodd raised his arms and caught it.
The impact shoved him downwards, cracking a deep pit in the dirt, but shuddering and protesting the missile came to a stop in the pirate's grip. The whole area for miles was washed out in blue-white light until the missile's engines petered out, the blue white glow fading away to reveal Balthazar holding the missile up above his head.
“Oh it's a planet killer!” the Pirate said. “Looks Chistani. Are those little balls of snot here somewhere?”
He closed one eye, the other bulging out of its socket as he scanned the sky.
“They can have this back,” he laughed, the muscles in his arms bulging and twitching as he pulled the missile back like a javelin and threw it into the air. It disappeared into the starry sky. He watched it's progress for a few more moments, then seemed to slump.
“Those bastards,” he said quietly, falling to his knees. He raised one arm and brought his fist crashing down so hard the ground began to shake. He raised his other fist and did the same, and then like the pistons of an out of control machine his fists were flying, up and down up and down up and down, striking the ground over and over and over, digging the crater he knelt in deeper and deeper with each mighty impact, the ground shuddering like it was about to tear itself apart.
“Those bastards,” Balthazar snarled, never ceasing his barrage against the planet. His voice grew louder and louder with every blow until every word thundered and shook as viciously as the ground under his assault. “One ship. They came out here to try and kill me with one god damn ship. Who the hell do they think I am? Don't they know? Don't the remember? I'm Balthazar Nodd! I'm the strongest man who ever lived! Thirty damn years of dying and they lose all respect. Like I'm some kind of joke. And if I don't got no blood to make them remember I'll have to do it myself. I'll show'em all the stories are true! I'm gonna show'em all Balthazar Nodd really couldtear a planet apart with his bare hands, 'cause I'm gonna do it one last time! I'll--”
He broke down in hacking coughs, horrible body-churning retches that brought up blood and flegm. He fell forward, just barely keeping himself from falling by propping himself up with both hands. His whole body shook at the force of his coughing fit, it's ugly hacks growing wetter and wetter until at last he spit up a long strip of something that looked mangled and meaty. A few last coughs brought up spatters of blood, but the fit finally subsided.
His barrage against the planet resumed. His fists were moving too fast to follow now, too fast to see, and the buildings were starting to crack and tilt on their foundations. Verro called on missile arrows to stop him, but between his shaking arms and the shaking ground his shots went wide, obliterating buildings in the middle distance. He was climbing to his feet to try and get closer when the barrage suddenly stopped. It happened so fast Verro almost didn't believe he'd seen it. One second the pirate was pummeling the ground, the next he whirled and thrust his fist into the air.
Verro hadn't even seen where Tyram came from, he'd been too focused on Balthazar. The Dragon Knight and the Pirate had punched at the same time, their fists colliding in midair. It was as if the blows had knocked all the noise away. With pounding of Balthazar's strikes and the rumbling of the ground gone the world seemed too softly quiet, like early morning after a snowstorm. And then that silence was shattered by one crisp, sharp sound.
Crack.
Balthazar pulled his hand away, clutching his wrist. Two of his fingers stuck out at odd angles. He glared at Tyram in surprise, but before anyone could react the air car hit.
It was on autopilot, all safeties removed, all dials turned to the maximum. It's accelerating engines glowed red hot as it screamed in, swooping under Tyram and slamming into the pirate's gut, picking him up and carrying him over a the ruins of one building and into the still standing wall of another, finally coming to a halt in a fiery explosion.
Verro was still trying to comprehend what he'd just seen when Booky slid up carrying Aurina, Rimni, and Andry on it's back.
“I can't believe you did that to me!” Aurina snapped
“Well it was,” Verro said. “It....I mean...uhm hi? What's going on? Since when can Tyram dothat?”
“Since just now apparently,” Andry said. “I don't get it either.”
“Don't try and change the subject,” Aurina said. “Look at all of you! What happened to your arms? I can't believe you sent me away like that!”
“Yeah!” Rimni said. “I wanna know which one of you knocked me out! I'll...is this tree J'vann?”
“I wondered if you would notice,” J'vann smiled. “It is good to see you both, even if I must confess to my...confusion.”
“You'reconfused?” Andry said. “How do you think we feel? You're a tree.”
“And likely to remain so for several weeks,” J'vann said. “If you have any techniques that might aid in the battle beyond Tyram's increased strength, they would be welcomed.”
“Hey,” Fann said, shifting in the Verdant Knight's leafy embrace. “Is that Andry? Sounds a little like Andry...”
“You're awake!” Verro said happily. “How do you feel?”
“Yeah,” Fann said, forcing open his eyes. “Definitely Andry. Look, I can't really make out what anyone is saying, I think Nodd blew out my eardrums. One of his many crimes, I'm sure you're all giving me excellent straight lines I'll never get to use. But I was waiting for Andry to turn up all battle because I got an idea for you. Our powers are kind of similar, so....well let's just say I bet you can do some damage. Don't want Tyram to outdo you completely, right?