The atmosphere grew tense. Bella felt her breathing tighten as Oriz’s willpower leaked out and thickened the air. There was love in the pressure, warmth, and a desperate grasping need.

The pressure reminded Bella — awfully — that her lover was strong enough to crush her skull without effort. Her runeblade whined like claws down a distant chalkboard. Oriz’s eyes widened as she heard that subtle sound, and the pressure vanished as though it had never been.

“I’m sorry,” Oriz said. “Seeing you hurt like that…”

Air flowed once more into Bella’s lungs, and what had felt like water pressing upon her was now merely the cool air of the cave licking the sweat from her skin.

Oriz looked at her, worry written across her face, but the moment happened, and it would always have happened.

“I love you, Bella,” Oriz said. “I couldn’t let you die. I couldn’t let Zoe cut you open for the time essence.”

As though that was the problem.

Bella’s heart hammered in her chest. Though Oriz seemed stoic and unreadable, Bella could see the fear in her lover’s eyes. Only centimeters of warm air between them, but it seemed a cold and growing chasm.

Could she put this into words? Did she want to? In truth, the intensity was what she liked about Oriz. They hated each other at first, but now…

“I know,” Bella said as she leaned her forehead against Oriz’s. “I know all that.”

“What’s wrong?”

Bella wanted to say “everything” and laugh about it. To shrug and say “nothing”. To ignore the question and leave.

“I don’t like being tied down,” she said as she leaned on her sword. “I don’t enjoy being trapped.”

“I didn’t trap you! I… I saved you.”

Bella nodded as she fumbled with the tent’s zip. Her fingers were numb, slick with sweat, her mind confused as she rushed for the air on the other side of the door.

The dream lurked in the back of her mind. Deeper in those murky memories, the dream within a dream coiled sharp as the smell of cut grass.

“I am thankful, Oriz. I love you, but right now, I need to breathe.”

She worked the zip, and it tore open the door. Cool air washed over her, and she stepped forward but an iron hand closed around her wrist.

“Don’t speak to me in metaphor,” Oriz said.

Bella looked down at the grey hand around her wrist, and then back at Oriz.

“I’m not,” she said with a sad smile. “We’ll survive all these bugs and calamities — because we’re badasses — and then we can roll in sheets for a week, but right now I need you to let go of me.”

Oriz’s lips parted, her grip remained, but Bella’s runes flashed with light, and she let her lover step out of the tent and into the cave.

Bella hobbled a few steps, leaning on her sword like a cane before she drew a deep breath.

“You out here, Zoe?” she called. “I heard doom’s come a knocking once more!”

“Bella!” Zoe called back.

And Bella laughed as her friend came running toward her. The black woman picked her up with wild strength and spun her around.

“Bella! You’re healed! I was so worried!”

Zoe wrapped her tight. The heat from her skin poured out. Her Willpower filled the air, a wild, sloshing thing and Bella doubted Zoe was even aware of the leakage. Whereas Oriz’s will felt precise and full of intent, Zoe’s felt like some kind of animal. There was instinct, and a need to protect. She leaned into her friend and savored the moment.

Who knew randomly assigned seats on a plane could lead to something like this?

Her ribs creaked.

“Uh, Zoe?” Bella’s voice was a squeak as she grew lightheaded. “Can you —”

“Oh, my god!” Zoe placed her down. “I’m so sorry, I was just excited, and —”

“It’s fine,” Bella laughed as she leaned on her sword like a cane. “It’s really fine. It just feels good to be walking around again.”

Zoe nodded and wiped away a tear.

“I won’t let something like that happen again.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Bella teased.

“I won’t.”

A dark look flashed across Zoe’s brown eyes. Gone in an instant, but Bella’s New Flesh let her notice such things. After all, an anchor knows all about the hidden depths…

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Zoe gripped Bella’s shoulder.

“It’s good to have you up and about,” she said, and she looked past to nod at Oriz. “Come, please, we need to discuss how we’ll escape the island, and we’re running out of time.”

###

Although Zoe hoped the storm would pour itself out, she had once more underestimated Not-Cassy’s spite. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the void creature’s motivations. Did it want change? Did it hate change? It seemed to be a contradiction. There was no motivation that Zoe could discern, but it took step after step towards some mysterious goal. Even this rain felt intentional. None of the other void creatures she killed had done so much as a whimper when she stepped through their skull, but Not-Cassy turned into a storm.

The black water chewed through the rock above the cave. Several pillars of sky lit rain fell from the ceiling. They grew wider and wider as they eroded the bedrock. Zoe knew the rain would destroy the entire island. Would it sink from the sky first? Or would there be a scattering of pebbles floating amongst the clouds?

She sighed at the achingly familiar desire for some kind of manual, tutorial, or guide.

One of Anton’s silver eyes floated down from an opening in the cave ceiling as another passed her ear.

“Something wrong, boss?” his eye whispered to her.

His voice itched with a desire for action. All this sitting didn’t suit him, no matter his outwardly calm demeanor.

“Just trying to figure out the will of the weather,” Zoe muttered.

Across from her, Anton nodded.

“Looks like we have around twelve hours until there’s no more island. The surface is almost completely gone, but there’s a lot more rock than meets the eye.”

They sat at a distance from the other survivors. Zoe, Anton, Oriz, Bella, and a groggy Skidmark who somehow napped while the others stressed. They all sat on a series of rocks under Anton’s silver light.

Skidmark rubbed at her eyes.

“So, what’s the plan?” she said with an exaggerated yawn. “Can’t Bella just cut some kind of portal and we bail out of this sinking mess?”

Zoe blinked.

She and Anton had been working on a strategy to dig their way toward the ship buried beneath the polyp. They would have to fight the Mantis Queen to get there, as well as deal with the guardian demon that remained — Anton’s quest hadn't changed to indicate the demon’s demise — but Skidmark’s comment threw that all into question.

She barked out a laugh.

“Maybe, maybe we can…”

With her body path abilities, and Bella’s runeblade, they should — theoretically — be able to create a portal to anywhere.

“What do you think?” she asked Oriz.

“The theory is sound,” the alien woman said with a slow nod. “But it’s your abilities. Do you think you’re up for it?”

Was that a veiled barb? Or just a question? Oriz’s demeanor seemed to have cooled off toward her, but there was no hostility. Zoe let it slide.

“I’ve been able to create local portals by destabilizing Skein, with the runeblade assisting, I think I can create a portal large enough and stable enough to let everyone escape.”

“Where would it take us?” Skidmark asked.

“That’s a question for the map,” Zoe said. “I can summon the demonic map —”

“What about your soul?” Bella interjected.

Zoe shrugged, though she didn’t feel nonchalant at all.

“I think right now our safety is worth a sliver.”

Bella looked like she wanted to say something, but held her tongue. Oriz reached out and clasped Bella’s hand.

“So, that’s the plan?” Bella said after a moment. “We find where to make a portal and walk away from the island. Then just let the island melt?”

“Best plan I’ve heard,” Anton said.

“What about that quest reward?” Zoe asked him. “You don’t want to see the prize the demon will give you?”

He shrugged and truly looked as though he didn’t care. His heartbeat remained steady, but Zoe wondered if he was truly as effortlessly calm as he appeared.

“It won’t be the first time I had to turn my back on a prize.”

Everyone looked at Zoe as Skidmark placed the decision at her feet.

“What do you say, boss?” she asked. “I don’t see why we should sit around and wait.”

Zoe nodded, but her mind turned. Did she want to walk away from the island? She told Sister Salt she would protect the people of the town, and she let them die. No, she let the mantis slaughter them. The fate that befell the humans was truly horrific. Her knuckles clenched, and the air distorted around her.

“I don’t want to run away,” Zoe said at last. “I want that damned bug to pay for what she did.”

“What do these people mean to you?” Oriz asked. “Is it worth risking all our lives for a chance at revenge?”

“I’m not risking anybody. We’ll create the portal, and we’ll let everyone escape, but I’m going to stay.”

Silence met her words. They all stared at her.

“You think you can do it alone?” Oriz asked. “You think you’re strong enough?”

Zoe met the alien woman’s gaze.

“I don’t think anybody on this island can match my strength. Not after I lost the Black Star’s dead weight.”

Moth fluttered against her heart. Mirrored fingers slid in hers and clasped. Zoe smiled.

“None of you need to stay. I’ll find the ship after I kill the queen.”

“This plan is foolish suicide,” Oriz said flatly, and she looked around at the others. “You are all complicit if you let her stay.”

“She won’t be alone,” Bella said.

Anton snorted.

“Obviously,” he said. “Boss couldn’t find her way out of a wet paper bag without me.” He grinned at Zoe like a shark in a drug dealer’s aquarium. “No offense.”

Zoe shook her head, but couldn’t stop a smile creeping across her lips.

“I’m not asking anyone to stay. You should all —”

“It’s suicide!” Oriz stood and stared at Bella. “You want to stay and fight monsters and risk your life? For what? Levelling up? Loyalty? Guilt? None of this makes sense.”

“You wouldn’t get it,” Skidmark said. “You’re not human.”

Oriz swung a hand at the Scottish woman. She stood six feet away, but a grass blade grew from her hand. Razor sharp and thin as a hair, the blade sliced through the air toward Skidmark’s throat.

Zoe caught the blade in a Mirrored hand. Force sparked and spat away from her grip as she arrested Oriz’s momentum. Skidmark’s eyes widened as she fell backward from her seat. It had happened so fast that none of them saw it happening.

But Zoe had been ready.

The way Oriz had sat, outwardly calm, but as tense and sharp as a prickle in the grass. The glances toward Bella, the growing hostility in her flat words. When they first met in the deserts of purgatory, Zoe didn’t have the stats to detect such changes, but she was a different person now.

She was stronger.

Her Mirrored grip flexed, and the grass blade shattered.

Oriz remained where she stood. Her eyes fixed on Zoe.

“Strongest person on the island?” she asked. “You want to prove your words?”

“Stop this,” Bella said as she stood between them, her runeblade resting where she sat. “Oriz, apologize.”

“I would not cut her,” Oriz said. “Just scare her.”

Anton helped Skidmark to her feet and tried to get her to back away, but the Scottish punk pushed past him.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Skidmark shouted. “Think you’re better than us? Think the system gives any more of a damn about you than us?”

“I am better than you,” Oriz said, though she kept her eyes on Zoe. “And you should learn how to speak with respect. All you humans,” and she snarled at the word, “seem to think this is some kind of game but —”

“Oriz,” Zoe said calmly, though her heart howled with the thrill of the hunt. “Apologize to Skidmark. You say anything else, you do anything else, and you’re not getting off this island.”