--- FORA, ONE YEAR SINCE ARRIVAL ---

I slammed into the ground as the creature pinned me there.

According to Eliax, Aremolot were tunneling draconic beasts from Arendi. She wasn’t sure yet how they’d managed to get across the gap between worlds, since usually it was only flying monsters that could bridge the space.

But after my first encounter with an Aremolot, I had a feeling that they were always there, below the surface. It was a mystery why they only came out on Light days. Those days specifically were four times a year, mostly I’d learned that the hard way, but Eliax was just glad my incessant dying wasn’t nearly as debilitating as it used to be.

~Aren’t you going to phase through it?~

Think of a dragon and soon she appears. ~Not sure, I don’t really want to start getting predictable.~

~It’s because your guard friends are watching, isn’t it.~

~I can’t let them know how easy it is to do that! They’ll start to wonder why I ever used to let them catch me!~

~It can’t be good for your mental state to see dying as less bad than that.~

~Dying is temporary, you’ll make another clone just to get me out of your head.~

~And yet you still manage to distract me at the worst times…~ She trailed off, finally returning to her research. I sent her books whenever I got a hold of them. Eliax claimed that she was trying to figure out why water floated here, but I didn’t think anyone knew the answer to that, least of all a bunch of books.

Couldn’t she just look at the water herself and find out? Learn some identification spells? We had a whole bunch of spellbooks, there had to be a reason for their existence. I shook my head and pushed against the massive claw, hardly even shifting it as the aremolot glared down at me with slitted eyes. This suddenly felt uncomfortably similar to the time Xien had disemboweled me.

Sparking dragons and dragon-like creatures.

I pushed my dimensionalism at it, trying to turn off its ties to the ground, but it was much too big. I felt it grow slightly lighter, but I had to extinguish the effect before it drained all my energy away.

I slumped against the claw, sighing with annoyance. Alright, alright. My reasons were stupid anyway. But why the sparks is it just sitting there looking menacing? Shouldn’t it be biting my head off? That’s what had happened the last three times I’d confronted this aremolot. —I think it got a taste for me after the first time.

Was it smart enough to have realized that my clone body would just dissipate into nothingness once it died? If so, I must be like an empty buffet table to this thing. Maybe it just wanted to finally see me die for good.

I contemplated trying to strike up a conversation with a less than self aware monster, but in the end I phased through the claw, teleporting immediately for a better vantage point.

~Now what? You hardly know any offensive spells.~

I grumbled internally, ~Would you stop it about that? I’m not learning to slice people open with portals!~

~Even if it makes the world safer for a monster like this one to no longer be present?~

~YES. Even then.~

~And you still won’t let me do it? We don’t really share a brain anymore, you won’t even have to watch.~

~We’ve talked about this.~

~Well I’m going to figure out how to do it, one day there will be someone like Xien that just has to die. It’s better if it happens before we lose someone we care about next time.~

I stilled slightly, watching that creature. It was just… looking up at me, not even angry anymore, just… curious. Sparks, could it think? It seemed at that moment to be a sign of what Eliax was saying. One day there will be a monster strong enough to hurt the people you care about. Shouldn’t you be able to hurt them first?

My mind still reviled against the idea, but I knew why Eliax was bringing it up. She had Kinthek now, and she was terrified of something happening to him. She’d never been all that close to any of our friends in the past, and that part scared her even more because she didn’t understand it.

~I… won’t stop you from figuring it out, but I’m not doing it.~

Eliax seemed surprised at this, and then suspicious as she saw my thoughts. ~I’m not in love with him.~

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~Well obviously, if you were in love you’d have tracked him down already and been stalking him to make sure he doesn’t stub his toe. But I know you considered it.~

~Only briefly.~ She admitted shamelessly. Sparks it was impossible to really get under her skin like this.

I sighed and let the connection dissipate, focusing again on the creature. “Hey, are you specifically after me? What’s up with that?”

The dragon-like aremolot regarded me, and then to my eternal surprise, it spoke. “You stink of traitors and blood.” Sparks, it did seem like a dragon in a lot of ways, why had I assumed it wouldn’t be like one in this way too? They could talk apparently. That felt like it should change something, it meant they were intelligent.

“The Alanerea?” I guessed, unable to think of any other traitors.

“Yes, the old ones.”

“Like you, I assume? Old I mean.”

The aremolot puffed itself up, it sounded vaguely masculine to me, but with such a booming voice, that wasn’t really much of an indicator. “I’m older than the mountains, I shape the world itself.”

“Yes, yes, earth magic, it’s very impressive. You’re like a dragon then?”

It hissed, “Imbeciles…”

“The dragons?”

“They’re so much weaker than they used to be, and yet somehow twice as prideful.”

“So… are you done trying to eat me or was four times good enough?”

The aremolot hissed, “You’re unnatural. No one should come back after they die.”

I shrugged, “So that’s another reason you hate dragons? The ones I know have a tendency to do that.”

“It’s unnatural…”

I nodded to myself, “Yes, the most unnatural thing ever. Say, do you know anything about a dragon by the name of Yumorath? I’ve been trying to track him down.”

“I don’t like you. Why would I give you information like that?”

“That’s a shame.” I frowned at the creature, even less willing to try killing it now that we’d had a conversation. It probably had family, friends, even if all of them were despicable earth worms with bad attitudes. I was frustrated too. Now I had no way of even knowing if it knew Yumorath. Besides, almost any information I got would just be forgotten. ~How in the world do we expect to be able to find someone like that?~

Eliax sent annoyance, apparently at a good part in the book, this section was about plants. ~We don’t. That was your idea, I’m just waiting for you to give up so you’ll listen to me more.~

~That’s terribly rude.~

The monster huffed, “I might be willing to help you.”

I perked up, “Oh? What are you asking in return?”

The aremolot jumped, a mighty leap with powerful limbs, its jaws opening to swallow me whole again, “Your death.”

I squeaked in a very unladylike manner, leaping off my force spell and sending myself into the sky. I hadn’t even realized it could jump! I barely managed to avoid the jaws as it was, yelling once I landed on a new spell, this time higher, “Sparks! You are extremely violent! I was just asking a question!”

The monster eyed my platform from below, probably contemplating jumping again but higher. It glanced toward the city—which was unfortunately nearby—and snarled at me. “Fight me fairly, mage.”

“You’re about a kazillion times bigger than me, I don’t think that’s very fair!”

“And you’re immortal.”

I regarded it for a moment, “That is completely beside the point. I don’t want to fight you, this is stupid.”

The aremolot snarled again, once more focusing on the city.

And then it rushed toward it.

Sparks. I decided that this thing probably didn’t have friends or family, only a heartless monster would go after a city. The aremolots had to be avoiding them on purpose if they could just come to the surface whenever and rampage without the use of earth magic… that was an interesting thought.

I thrust myself after it, feeling my energy drop as I twisted about in the air once again. I was probably at about half by the time I landed on the wall ahead of the aremolot. It seemed to grin savagely as it continued rushing forward.

I heard the guards along the wall scream and scatter. I heard the wind. I heard the roar of an approaching monster large enough to flatten the city in a matter of minutes.

Eliax chose that moment to check in with me again. ~Sparks, Fora, you work fast.~

~Are you going to help me?~

I felt mana leak through our connection in response. It took me a moment to realize it was for me. ~Make a barrier or something, I’m sure it’ll work out.~

I sent anger but took the energy, thrusting both of my palms forward before grasping onto the runes drifting in the wind, shaping them together hastily and pulling them into a force spell. A massive force spell. It was harder than it should have been to pierce the between with my mana, to take its energy to fuel the spell, but there were hardly any places on Arithren where it was easy to do so.

In this case, it was enough.

A spiraling dome of golden light formed, starting at where I stood and spreading over and across the city, just in time for a very angry dragon like earthworm to ram straight into it. I felt the energy strain at its might, I felt it almost buckle, but another pair of hands joined the dome, lending her own ability. The dome held.

I turned my head, grinning from ear to ear at Eliax, who just seemed annoyed. She didn’t speak aloud, the sound of the impact had been deafening and it pierced the air like a gong. But I felt her mind connect back to mine, its origin. ~You’re lucky it held.~

I grinned wider. ~Thanks, thanks!~ She nodded curtly at me and teleported away again, somehow still having mana after that. I knew I was completely drained.

The aremolot glared at me, but it retreated.