They had to run.

The burning ship only grew bigger as it raced toward the ground. Ben led the charge away from the X laid out in the muddy plain. His loyalty to Mr Biggs was entirely under duress, and there was no way he would volunteer to be hit, let alone smushed in order to stand his ground or something equally useless.

Mr. Biggs and Giuseppe followed him. The three of them with their elite bodies fairly skipped across the mud, their steps closer to shallow flight than any real running.

The ship descended shockingly fast. Flame wreathed it like a magnesium meteor — burning white — there was no sound, which shocked Ben at first. He grew up watching planes fly over, and there was always sound, or so he thought. But this ship fell in burning silence as it crashed down toward the tiny shack in the mud.

Ben didn’t turn to watch it land, he was too obsessed with getting clear, but no matter how fast he ran, it all felt wrong. His legs strode across the mud. He kicked off with each step, barely letting his toes dip into the mud, but it was as though he made no distance at all. A crossroads extended away from the shack and the mutilated cocoon of the young man’s corpse. Ben knew these roads weren’t here an hour ago — hell, they weren’t there a minute ago — and so he avoided them. Even still, he found them under his feet.

His shoes touched down on firm ground, and even when he strayed away and out into the mud, the road appeared beneath him. A sense of rising dread filled his gut. He liked to think that nothing could scare him, but that was nothing but bravado. That mad god scared him in the tutorial — filled him with terror like a fly meeting a windscreen — and that same feeling now drained the blood from his perfect face.

At the fourth time, he leaped off the path and found it back under his feet, he stopped running. Some force was screwing with him, and he refused to offer it entertainment like a mouse in a wheel. Gritting his teeth, he turned to face the center of the crossroads and the crashing ship. If he died, he died, but he refused to go out looking like a chump.

It gutted him to see how little distance he’d made. The shack was right there, no more than a dozen paces, and when he looked over his shoulder he saw Mr Biggs and Gisuessepe standing the same distance again behind him. They were both sweating and out of breath — considering how much stronger they all were, that meant they’d put in some serious effort.

“This is a trap,” Ben said.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Gisueppe said with a sneer.

“Prepare yourselves,” Mr Biggs said. “Whoever thinks they can trap us like this is about to get a rude surprise.”

Ben wondered where the man got his arrogance from. If someone could trap them like this, then there was nothing they could do. He shook his head, feeling an odd smile stretch his face as he turned to face his fate.

The ship was seconds away from impact. To his surprise, he found himself thinking about Zoe. They had some good times together. Was she still alive? He could ask Mr Biggs, that man’s nose might tell him if she was still out there but — oh, no more time.

The ship crashed down into the mud a dozen paces away. It happened so fast Ben couldn’t flinch or brace for the impact as a wave of mud roared toward him and —

Froze.

The wave of rock and earth hung an inch from his face. He felt his hair pulled back by the wind. Heat drying out his pores — just one goddamn thing after another in the apocalypse — and a thousand raw tonnes of earth about to wipe him away into a paste.

But none of it moved.

[It’s moving, but very slowly, I wanted to take a moment between moments to talk to you]

The voice sent a shudder of pleasure down his spine and into his groin. Each word felt like a tongue sliding against his skin. He wanted to beg for more, but just like the wave, he couldn’t move.

[I’m starting to understand why my brother loved captive audiences, but choices need decisions, so…]

Ben gasped. Blinked. Looked around. He remained where he was, frozen, but he could move his head. Someone stood behind him, but no matter how much he turned, she remained out of view. He knew she was the source of the seductive words. Never in all his life had he felt urges like this moment. He wanted nothing more than to turn around and see the woman who could make him feel so… alive.

[Really?]

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A soft laugh spread through his blood like lilies choking a lake. He moaned at the sensation. This was torture.

“Please,” he whispered. “Let me see you.”

[You’re about to die and you want to see my face? Is there nothing else you want more?]

Ben bit his lip as he shook his head. He’d always been a weak one for the softer flesh, but he felt like a starving prisoner offered a delicious steak.

“No all I want is you.”

She laughed again and it was ecstasy for the both of them.

[I can see why she hates you. However, that part of her brain has shrunk as the Crimson Armada gobbled your world. You two really are mirrors for each other. How wonderful that you’ll meet again]

Ben frowned. The words of pleasure kneaded at his brain. He felt ideas and memories oozing out of his ears. That delicious laughter licked at them while his body remained rigid and indisposed. Something was…

Something was…

This was…

[Nothing is wrong]

Of course.

This was fine. More than fine. This was a pleasure.

[If you do one little task for me, then I’ll let you see my face]

Ben felt the inane grin spread across his lips. Was he grinning? Was it someone else?

“I’ll do anything.”

[I need you to kill Zoe Chambers]

His mind skipped a beat.

“What… I don’t understand…”

[You’ll understand soon enough. I just need you to say yes. Can you do that for me? And in exchange, I’ll let you do anything you want.”

His head swam with honeyed thoughts. Was he the flower or the bee? Something dribbled from his nose. His heart raced.

“Yes,” the word came out slurred. “I’ll do anything.”

[What a good boy]

###

The spaceship was currently mid-collapse. Heat poured from the smooth metal frame as it burned and crumpled like a trash can at the bottom of a volcano. Trinch sat at the controls. In the last few moments of flight he desperately tried to swing it back up into the sky, but no matter which direction he steered, he only went toward the brown island in the sky. At first, he blamed the damage from the Mubilashi, but he swiftly realized greater forces were at play.

But it was too late. The ground rushed up toward him, and all he could do was focus on his Skein and hope his technique saved his life again.

His ship slammed into the ground, and everything froze.

He could see the dirt wave spreading out from the impact. Feel the steering controls crushing the exoskeleton of his stolen body. He was about to be smashed like — ironically — a bug, and there was nothing he could do.

[Not nothing, no, I wouldn’t say nothing…]

The words sent a thrill down his spine, which was horrible because he didn’t have a spine. Even with his Skein soul riding the body, he didn’t have a brain capable of feeling the levels of pleasure rushing through him. It was as though a rock cried after a breakup — completely alien and disturbing. Trinch couldn’t move, but he knew exactly what was happening.

He thought the ground beneath his ship looked suspiciously like a crossroads…

[It’s no fun if you know what’s coming]

Trinch could think, but he couldn’t respond until time suspiciously thawed around his body. He instantly rose from the controls. Ichor and slime leaked from cracks in his exoskeleton and singed from the heat in the air, but he scurried away from the controls.

[Where are you going? You think you can outrun me?]

Delicate fingers — countless — brushed across his shoulders and arrested his motion. He froze halfway through the ship on his way toward the exit hatch. He refused to turn around. If he looked at her face, he would have already lost.

[You think I’m so ugly? Or do you think I’m so beautiful? Please, define your terms, Trinch the Winter Thief]

Trinch said nothing as the pleasure rolled through him. If he spoke, he would lose. Pouting laughter filled his brain, and his mandibles clacked in an echo-made-flesh. He thought the Winter Queen had a commanding presence, but that was a snowball compared to the vast emptiness of space. The entity that surrounded him right now…

All-encompassing terror.

If he didn’t obey her, he would die.

[It is so refreshing to speak with someone who understands. I have an offer for you, Trinch. I’ll give you access to the Mountains. I’ll take you back to your homeworld. You’ll be a king. You’ll be a god. All you need to do is —]

“No,” Trinch interrupted through the waves of pleasure. “I refuse.”

Frozen time grew cold and silent. The fingers slipped from his shoulder to his throat. Pressure squeezed his chitin, not enough to crack, no, never enough to force him, that wasn’t her way, she would —

His neck snapped.

He collapsed. Air wheezing through his mouth. His lungs pumped, but the hose between them collapsed and bent. His legs splayed about him like a bundle of sticks.

[I am fair, yes? Everyone always says I’m fair]

Nobody says that Trinch thought.

[I am fair! I have always been fair! I trade. I offer deals. A shortcut still gets you where you need to go! But now I find myself forced to pick up my dead brother’s slack, did you know the Gambler was dead? Did you know the bitch who led to his demise still wanders this world? I want you to kill Zoe Chambers. Do you change your mind now?]

His throat wasn’t mended, but he could talk, and as he sucked air through the pain, Trinch laughed.

“You’ll never make me your slave.”

The ship crumpled around him. Faster than he could believe. Flame rushed over him, hotter than his Flame body could handle. An explosion of mud shot a mile into the sky.

But Trinch wasn’t in the center of it all, he was elsewhere, whisked away by a mad goddess as she cracked under the pressure of herself.

[I’ve always been fair]

Her words echoed through the star-studded space Trinch found himself inside. He wasn’t alone. No matter that he couldn’t feel or see or smell or hear, he knew he wasn’t alone.

[Who cares if I have to cheat? My brother cheated all the time. It’s fine, everything is fine. I won’t lose myself to this. She deserves this. It’s all worth it. Everything will work out. Everything is…]

Trinch shattered as the Witch’s voice broke, but he quickly came together again. No worse for wear, as whole as he ever was, fashioned for a purpose, intact, and fine.