“We do not choose the Tide; it chooses the broken. Blood whispers, marrow screams, oil conflagrates—and the Devils listen.”

* Anonymous inscription on the walls of the Imperial Asylum.

Eyes shifted to Joan in utter silence. Neither Lucius nor Rosa spoke, waiting for the doctor to say her piece. While they watched her, the woman’s eyes flittered all over, taking in the ancient buildings, worn roads, and bizarre people.

Only then did she whisper, “I have three Rats left. We’ll sneak past them and climb into a house. If they can’t enter the diner... the houses are likely the same.”

“Hmmm...” Lucius hummed, just lucid enough to agree with the idea.

However, Rosa wasn’t so accommodating with Joan’s ‘Biotics’ because of their absurdity. She leveled her gaze toward the biologist’s hands that dug through the medicine bag and demanded, “You really think those houses are safe? Why?”

Joan shrugged in response, having a plain answer, “Does it matter?” and with a twist, she offered the Rat Biotic to Rosa. It was a blunt, slender syringe with an unknown concoction inside. “It’s only getting colder. And more of those things are gathering. They aren’t humans. Humans... are never so apathetic. We need to get inside.”

Rosa groaned in annoyance before sighing. She agreed, taking the syringe and decisively shoved the needle into her arm. A cruel smile beamed from Joan as the fluid entered the Miro’s body. Bones cracked. Muscles contorted. A silent cry emerged from Rosa while Lucius received his dose of medication, too.

A moment later, three rat-sized, hairy balls of intelligence stared at each other. The cold ruthlessly dug into their tiny forms, so they moved without hesitation.

The three scuttled across the top of the snow, leaving only the faintest trace as they progressed. Lucius’ wounds lingered, but the Rat suppressed them for now. It was Joan’s supreme escape technique, including such a feature. Furthermore, despite what she had told them, she had one more dose in her bag, though she had to leave it in the woods.

Joan rarely carried the stockpile of medicine she had, but for this mission, she did. As such, the bag meant more to her than almost everything.

But for now, the group moved in tandem. Soon, they reached the street, escaping the cloudy snowbank and stepping upon the hard, cracked gravel. There, the claws of the Rats tapped slightly, and Joan slowed, gazing at her partners.

With a motion of her legs, she showed the two how to be silent while running. Lucius and Rosa, both skilled in physical combat and athletics, picked up the technique with just a glance.

Then they continued.

A trio of tiny creatures, hardly noticeable under the moonless and starless night, approached the closest house. The three scrambled up the wooden, rickety stairs, landing on the porch. In the lead, Joan noticed the door having a hole in the bottom, just large enough for a small cat or a...

Rat.

After they scurried through, Joan stood on her hind legs, quick to order the other two around. Squeaks emerged from her mouth, but neither of her ‘subordinates’ knew what she was saying. They hadn’t learned the language of mice yet.

The thin Rat that was the eminent doctor shook her wee head. Then she pointed one paw toward the right room and another toward the left. Without another word, she strode forward toward the stairs that left upwards.

A Martian and a Tianshe, both stuck in their minute forms, shared a gaze. Lucius had no complaints, for he could breathe without severe pain. However, Rosa’s rage was building. She didn’t ask how long the transformation would last!

Worse, she couldn’t understand a word from Joan. With a squeak of grief, she strode away toward the room on the left. She recognized it as a kitchen of some sort, though terribly antiquated. The paint peeled off the walls while most of the furniture and cabinets wilted, rotting onto the floor.

With her acrobatic training from all her years as a Miro, she scampered up the leg of a chair to arrive at the table. Her nose twitched, discovering empty plates and utensils sitting on pallid napkins.

What is this place? Is it some ruin?

Again, her nose twitched as a whiff of flavor entered it. Rosa’s head flung to face the cabinet on the kitchen counter. Without even thinking about it, Tides swirled within the Rat’s powerless body, granting it a burst of momentum.

A second later, the poor animal crashed into the porcelain counter, bouncing off the wall and into the sink. A groan escaped Rosa’s teeny lungs as she deflated, giving up the struggle for a spell.

The Rat sprawled out, deciding to rest while the other two explored the house.

Lucius scuttled with care through the other room, doing all he could not to aggravate his wounds. It took only a few minutes for him to find what appeared to be a giant, fluffy bed in his eyes.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A dog bed, huh? Hope always wanted a puppy. Zachariah, too. Meredith, though...

The man-turned-rat crawled into the cushions, which had lost much of their comfort. Despite their age, he crashed into them, his eyelids drooping.

I tried to convince her, but she just wouldn’t budge. So stupid, I swear. I couldn’t ever get her to change her mind once she had set it on something. It was so annoying. She’d rather die than relent. The kids wanted the dog so damn bad...

Lucius’ muscles relaxed, and his mind held a final thought before he drifted into sleep. His dreams encompassed a fuzzy, person-less warmth.

I miss her.

One Rat surrendered to comfort and the other to fatigue. A third, however, had long mastered the cognitive modifications that the Biotics delivered. Joan surmounted the grand staircase after both her companions lost themselves.

There, her eyes twitched every which way. After choosing a direction, she hustled across the carpet, her mind still calculating potential risks. While they entered the house, no one had confirmed if it was secure.

The Rat tallied the windows and doors since she entered and continued as she searched the second story. Her allies couldn’t understand a word she had told them, but she had to hope they received her message.

There! A window is open!

At the end of the hallway on the second floor, Joan discovered a window raised just a few inches. It wasn’t much. However, it sent chills down her furry spine.

Without the antidote stored in her bag, the Biotics would last around an hour. It varied for each individual, lasting the longest for Joan as she made them cater to her. Lucius would break out first, thanks to his prodigious fortitude and metabolism, and Rosa would follow thereafter.

As such, Joan stared at the open window with determination. She had to close it. Who knew if one of those things could climb in?

The doctor waddled toward the distant opening, gazing up at the vast height she would have to climb. But her mind flashed with an idea spawning from Rosa’s earlier aid.

Liquid bone jutted from the rodent’s right paw, solidifying a moment later into a stair of gnarled white. The platform was minuscule, just enough for a creature as small as the Rat Biotic.

If she were in her actual form, it would be impossible for such a construct to carry her. Joan’s skills in her Tide paled compared to anyone else’s. Even Archimedes understood his powers better at this time, for the woman didn’t comprehend her Stigmata either. She followed the more standard timeline of a Seafarer, taking months to acclimate to her powers.

Nonetheless, in this state, her Tide flowed as usual, but she drastically lowered the requirement for success. As such, in a fleeting series of seconds, she vaulted the windowsill and stood on the boundary of a chilly night and deathly white.

There, her eyes peered into the rear of the house, and she shook with what she witnessed. A pair of forms rushed through the night at a blistering speed, one of whom ran without either of her arms. Joan saw them heading toward her house, with creatures leisurely in pursuit.

Without waiting another moment, Joan rallied her Tide, forming bone claws to aid her pitiful form in dragging the window down. After a moment of tense strain, the glass met porcelain, and the doctor heaved an air of relief.

Then she climbed back down, sprinting to the stairway with echoing taps from her nails. There was no need to be quiet until the two entered, so within just a few seconds, Joan lay prone at the top of the stairs.

Her breath slowed, and her body grew dormant. The doctor prepared to run for her life should the two be enemies.

************************

“Quick! To the door! Don’t break it! The last ones laughed at it!” Hana ordered the faster Anathema as the two raced away from their predators. A long, jagged scar ran down Melody’s chest, slashing open her clothes and revealing the undead tone of her flesh.

Such remained proof of the two duos' single encounter with the creatures behind them. One exchange left Melody, a Miro who specialized in body refinement, bloody and haggard.

Even so, the two refused to despair. Melody burst through the third house they had tried, and Hana closed it behind her with a hand made of water. Then, the Miro exhaled with misery, bending over beside the house's back door. With her hands on her knees, her eyes gravitated toward the door.

Through the glass opening, she saw one of their hunters, a wrinkled old woman with a curved grin, staring into her soul, somehow just a step behind them. Both jerked backward in surprise, ready to escape again, but the door didn’t twist open.

“Would you mind letting me in, dears? I am awfully cold out here,” it spoke as if it hadn’t pursued them over tens of miles non-stop. The damned creature never moved quickly, as it neglected to sprint or leap toward its prey, but it was undoubtedly relentless.

Hana laughed, manipulating another palm of her Tide to grip the cloth on the table from the kitchen beside her and lining it across the window. Her eyes searched the quaint house, noticing how diminutive it was. Three rooms composed the entire bottom floor, four if the center was counted that led to the stairs and allowed one to see the back door from the front.

A kitchen, living room, toy room, and foyer. That is all there was.

“Check the upstairs for any open doors or windows. I’ll get down here. These bastards seem to be unable to come in without permission. Odd, but I’ll take it,” Hana offered a plan to her partner, and Melody agreed with a nod.

The two split up, and Hana walked into the toy room. Her eyes noted the countless children’s playthings, dragging her gaze across them without stopping—that was until she saw the sleeping Rat.

Her voice entered the air without effort and with pure curiosity. “Hmm?”

She strode to the Rat while Melody wandered upstairs. The Hydro kneeled before the creature, finding it more than out of place.

“What are you doing here, buddy?” Hana’s voice relaxed, her tension easing as her hands grabbed the slumbering animal. A soft smile resolved on her lips, and she carried the creature with genuine care. A hum arose from her lungs as she meandered through the rest of the trim house.

After a mere minute, she confirmed all the entrances were shut, and a voice echoed from the second floor, “All clear!”

“Same!” Hana returned her information as she entered the kitchen, setting the mouse atop the table with a tender touch. It opposed all she had done before, yet none witnessed the Anathema’s true heart.

Melody trotted down the stairs, still holding some of her garment against the wound to help it close. Miros healed faster than any other Tide, but the injury was not light. Were it just about anyone else, they would have died from the lone incision.

However, the moment Melody’s foot tapped the foyer’s bottom, a weight reappeared within the kitchen. A clangor resounded from the table as it sank, and azure seeped over the brown wood.

“What the fuck?” Melody pointed a finger behind Hana, and the Hydro turned with bewilderment at the sudden noise.

Hana readied to strike with a floating gun of water that conjured behind her. Yet a second look stopped her, “One of them!? No... it’s a Martian. Blue blood.”

Melody remained confused, “Okay. What is he doing here? Shouldn’t we just kill him?”

The Hydro twisted her head, thinking for a moment before recalling the figure before her. Then, she nodded, “Yeah. He killed Zed.”

“What!?” Melody held her mouth in awe of the ‘Sealess man before her.

A nod cemented her disbelief, and the two prepared to kill the man before he awoke. But before they could, a tiny Rat shuffled out of the sink. Rosa's beady eyes, post-transformation, met both Anathemas.

In a mere second, the Tianshe acted, funneling her stored energy into a single burst of movement. The Rat erupted across the room, leaving a rocket’s trail of humidity behind her, yet her timer ran out in the air.

Joan’s tests hadn’t included a Martian or a Cultivator before. All her estimates on the timeframes were just that, estimates. As such, Rosa’s enlarged form crashed straight through the kitchen wall, breaking open the foyer between the dining table and the stairs.

With lungs spitting out dust and plaster, the woman lay in her demolition, spurring further confusion between the Anathemas. Still, hovering pistols of water sat in the air, pointed toward both the Martian and the Tianshe. Neither moved, one from unconsciousness and the other from sudden pain.

“Kill her! We can’t have her break the window!” Melody shouted at her partner, for the Miro could not use her greatest weapon. Her Stigmata, Trifecta, would shatter nearby glass from the piercing noise, opening every window for the creatures to pile in.

Hana nodded, already readying her weapons to shoot, but a squeak distracted her. The two Rats had left a profound impression on the woman, and when she glanced toward the newest sound, she found another one.

However, this one didn’t seem right.

It stood on its hind legs beside the living room windowsill, in view of everyone because of the hole between rooms. However, the genuinely bizarre point was its hands.

One paw pointed at the window, a tendril of bone pressed against the glass, and the other ran across its neck. The warning was clear from the tiny creature.

“Kill my friends, and we all die!”