At the death of their progenitor, the remnants of the Spiked Eagle clan went wild. Some of them dove directly into the clan's midst in an impotent rage while others panicked, quickly flying towards the opening above. The last group simply hung in air, staring towards the base of the mountain's innards that was covered in cracked and broken stone.

The piles of stone were a grave for their Progenitor made with the bodies of their own clans.

The disjointed efforts of the the Spiked Eagles were quickly dismantled by the Underbridge Clan even as tired as they were. Gi accepted the notification of claiming the Spiked Eagle's main Encampment Crystal and then rushed back to catch up to his clan.

For some reason, the victory didn't make him happy. In fact as he'd killed the Spiked Eagle Progenitor, his Soul suddenly felt disjointed and sick. To his conscious mind, it didn't make any sense. As an entity, he'd grown since his time as Richard.

He had the strength to take what was needed. The strength to not fall like he did again. So why...?

Another quake rocked the mountain and boulders that cracked from its tip fell down, sailing past Gi and crashing into the ramp below. That quake shook into his Soul, ironically providing some relief from the sick feeling he had and helping his Mind refocus.

He had to center on the clan for now.

He rejoined the group, scooping up the massive Samba who'd fallen far behind as he did. Waves of pain crashed through his left side as he had to stay flexed to keep Samba on his shoulder, but compared to the uneasiness of his Soul, it was nothing.

Eventually, the Spiked Eagles were all either dead or dispersed and the Underbridge Clan made it to the very top where a giant Encampment Crystal hovered above the opening at the top. Far above them, the sky-ocean churned as it had when they approached the monsoon season, but they were still solidly in the dry season.

Gi found himself standing beside the twins who squinted up at the sky-ocean as though looking at an extremely bright light.

"What do you see?" Gi asked.

"Aether... so much Aether."

Gi set Samba down just as Tiria, her assistant, Tala, Poe, and Elizabeth gathered. Tala started fussing over Samba and the big otter just held her close as he took deep breaths with his eyes closed. Gi watched Elizabeth closely.

He'd been intending on killing her after the operation was complete, but both he and the clan were in a worse state than he'd hoped. With the quakes and the sky-ocean, Gi didn't feel comfortable making a new enemy at this point. Though if Georgia had already taken out her clan, it was only delaying the inevitable anyways.

"Look," Tiria's assistant shouted out and Gi followed his pointing finger towards Igna in the distance. Even through a haze of smoke, they could all see as Queen Siht left the Throne and took to the air. More difficult to see, but became very obvious as they watched, was the Progenitor of Myshk.

Crawling up like a creeping fog of shadow that rolled up Igna to get in range to strike at the Queen. That was far further than they'd made it in the last attack that Gi had been a part of. That one had seemed like a rehearsed play, but now seeing the Myshk Progenitor head straight towards the Queen, this was a true war.

Gi blinked. Was this the opportunity that Galvina had mentioned? Did she expect Gi to strike during a war? Part of him hungered for it, but even with his Soul confused his Mind knew better. That was a death sentence.

A flapping figure soon became apparent through the haze of smoke. Its form soon materialized into that of a toucan from Igna heading directly towards them. They waited in silence, still catching their collective breaths, until the colorful toucan finally landed, towering over most of the Underbridge Clan.

"Howdy ya'll, I'm looking for Atlas? Big stone bird, Progenitor, lives here?"

"He's dead," Gi said simply. "This mountain is ours now."

"Oh," the toucan said dully. Gi wondered if this was the same one that had given him a ride to his first Assembly or if they all had that annoying accent. "Well, I guess I should tell you then. Myshk is attacking hard. Igna was taken by surprise and there are enemies all over the mountain. The Faithful lady told me to come get Atlas and the other Spiked Eagles to come help."

Before Gi could respond, a small urgent voice cut through. "WAIT. Did you say all over the mountain? Like they are literally everywhere? Even like tiny little tunnels where Spiked Eagles might live?"

The toucan gave him a lazy stare. "I mean... probably? It's like really bad."

Poe's already wide eyes seemed to grow even larger. He spun in the air to face Gi. "Georgia's there! I gotta go help her!"

He started to fly off, but Gi was too quick and grabbed the Dragonfly with one hand. "Poe, wait. If it's as dangerous as he said, you can't rush in there alone."

Poe stared at Gi with an intensity that pinned him deep inside like his confused Soul was a snake that had been stabbed against the ground and writhed against the naked blade. "It's too dangerous not to go."

"Poe...," Gi said, "That doesn't make any sense."

Poe's gaze didn't waver. "You asked me a long time ago what I wanted. I didn't know then. Finally with the clan, I realized that it was family and a sense of belonging that I yearned for. Other than you, Georgia is the monster that I'm closest to. If I lose her and stayed here safe, I couldn't live with myself."

Gi's hand fell slack and Poe took off. Arguments that Poe hadn't known Georgia that long or that she was strong enough to take care of herself died on his lips. Instead, he turned to Tiria. "I can't let Poe go by himself."

"I'll take care of the clan. Just keep them safe."

"Thank you."

Kumo and the Twins had already hopped onto the back of the Toucan who didn't even protest. "Lead the way, Boss."

Gi took off into the air and raced after Poe. The toucan lifted off and then started to fly back towards Igna with Kumo and the Twins on his back. It didn't take long for Gi to make it back to Poe and his friend's face lit up in a broad smile.

Thanks, Boss, Poe said in his mind. I was scared to go alone.

****

With the exit blocked, Georgia and her clan had bulled through the Spiked Eagles stationed in their Encampment inside Igna. It was little more than a long tunnel with a honeycomb of openings at the end, but it had a full mob of Eagles there.

The Elites there had rallied pretty quickly, blasting them with spikes of stone from the ceiling that had taken them awhile to fight through. Thankfully, Georgia's Rhinos had good defense. When Georgia had landed the final blow with her warhammer and crushed the last Elite, they finished securing the chamber and confirming there were no more enemies.

That left her with the part of her job that brought a sour taste to her mouth - betraying Elizabeth's clan.

She'd never liked Elizabeth and her clan seemed to be cut from the same cloth considering how annoying the dwarven undead was, but as she looked at the drowned looking humanoid, she hesitated.

I've always been a monster of my word. Even if they deserve it, it doesn't sit right with me.

A glance around at Babcock, the Gang Otter Hunters, the Hidden Spiders, and the rest of her former clan showed that they all looked to her for the signal. The arrogant dwarf stood with arms folded and a handful of other drowned looking humans at his back.

"We can take the Encampment from here and wait for Elizabeth to arrive."

Georgia exhaled. She hated this, but she supposed they had attacked the Underbridge first, even if they were mercenaries that made them enemies. "Well, I guess we should get this over with."

She hefted her warhammer and the dwarf's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Before she could attack though, an earthquake rocked the cavern sending chips of stone raining from the ceiling. One of the honeycomb tunnels above even completely collapsed.

Through Georgia's [Pierce the Veil] Skill, a glow slowly suffused the entire cavern as it shook. Normally, it provided a visual sense of danger related to another monster, allowing her to quickly tell if they were outclassed or not. As she'd grown to understand it more, it became almost simple to estimate levels and ranks with it.

This was the first time she'd ever seen it activate on not a monster.

The quaking stopped, but the glow didn't. "We need to get out of here."

All thoughts of betrayal between Elizabeth's Clan and her own flew out the window and all of them hurried towards the exit. The ice bridge they'd made had cracked, but was still mostly intact. The dwarf and his clan rushed across it first and for a moment, Georgia regretted not killing them, but that feeling proved wrong as they started to fix the bridge with their Ice Aether.

Georgia couldn't help but pause at the exit though as the glow wasn't just limited to inside the mountain. It suffused the entire air and staring up at the Sky-Ocean showed that huge waves were breaking on its surface sending some errant drops cascading below.

The Hidden Spiders crawled across the mountainside effortlessly, fixing any of their web handholds that had fallen and Georgia started sending her clan across as quick as she could. Once there were none left on the side nearest the Spiked Eagle's old Encampment. Georgia started to make her own way across.

Once she hit the halfway mark, another quake hit.

The ice beneath her cracked and her body spun wildly as she kept a death grip on the web. The quaking ground far below her looked jagged and deadly. According to Gi, a monster with her Vitality should be able to survive a fall from any height, but with the glow of danger all around her and the lack of solid footing, her anxiety spiked.

Already across, Babcock cried out at seeing her predicament, but neither of their worrying helped. One of her handholds ripped, sending her heavy bulk sliding along the wall. She thrashed wildly looking for any handhold, but every rock she grabbed broke off in her hand. The Hidden Spider Progenitor crept along the quaking wall to try and use some more web to save her, but there was no way she'd make it.

She glanced again towards the long fall, realizing that she was about to test Gi's theory personally. Her heart slammed in her chest as she could feel the web slowly stretching from her full weight being too much for it.

Her eyes found Babcock's. "Get the clan somewhere safe!"

She didn't get to hear his response as her own scream from the fall drowned him out.

***

Babcock flinched as Georgia screamed and fell. The quake stopped just as she did, giving him the comfort to go and lean over the edge. She was nowhere to be seen. She must have disappeared somewhere into the deep crags.

In his head, he knew that the Underbridge Clan believed that they couldn't be harmed from a fall. He also knew that he'd be able to feel it if his peak had been cut off with Georgia's death, but it did nothing to assuage the worry in his heart.

"This damn glow," Babcock cursed uncharacteristically as he looked around at the rampant danger that seemed to pin them all in according to [Pierce the Veil]. "Come on, let's head back and get-"

His order died in his throat as he saw a huge figure made of shadow appear above the Bazaar tier of Igna. A roar sounded out even further above, and from Babcock's angle, he could just make out a stream of fire that had erupted in the air. Compared to the pervasive subtleness of the glow, the Myshkin leader and the Queen of Siht were to bright beacons that lit up the entire sky with danger.

"RUN!" Babcock roared and all of them sprinted out of the side passage and past Elizabeth's manor. The chaos of battle rang out far before they arrived at the Bazaar itself. Masses of Leaf Elementals fought goblins in the streets. Tents and wares had been torn down and overrun by the army that had just appeared on their very doorstep.

One of his Rhinos deflected an errant attack of a shadow spear towards their group on one of his forearm scales. Much like how goblin clans made up Igna's general rank and file, the Leaf Elementals did the same. What froze Babcock with uncertainty though was the appearance of Myshkin's Ground Clan equivalents pushing up from The Commons en masse.

At the same time, shining stars of danger started to appear in the sky as the Sky Clans and Fighting Drakes looked to join the fray. On the other side, moths started to float up to meet them with tall figures of indistinct shadow that stood unmoving on their backs.

There were enemies in front, a cliff behind, and enemies above. They'd been caught completely in the middle of a sudden war zone with no obvious way out. What choice did you make when all choices were wrong?

As if to emphasize their doom, another quake rocked the mountain with enough strength to send half their clan sprawling on their backs. Even being knocked flat didn't stop the monsters in front of them from their war. They grab at other downed foes and dove into them with claws and teeth.

Blood spurted everywhere he looked and its coppery scent invaded the air, almost overwhelming the battlecries and screams of dying monsters. Kor reached a hand up and Babcock pulled him to his feet as the quake finally came to an end, but the fighting didn't. Kor looked to him with panic in his eyes.

"Subgenitor, what do we do?"