Calling Olympus Mons a mountain is like calling Dravich an arsehole: a  huge understatement. I've heard it compared to some American State in size-Arizona, I think- and seeing it from space, I had to agree.

I flew down, covering thousands and thousands of kilometres, until I was floating face to face with the tiny, hunched reptilian. An instant later, Liam appeared behind it in a flash of pale green light. I gave him a brief, approving nod. We had it caught between us. If the rest arrived as well...

The Yoda wannabe was still smiling blandly, like it had just seen its face in the mirror and realized how dumb it looked. It was making no move to attack, nor to put up defences between itself and us.

I narrowed my eyes, focusing my senses. Reptilian physiology was strange to listen to; human enough to feel familiar, alien enough to feel strange and unsettling. But I had learned to listen to it and analyze the sounds made by the organs.

This guy, much like the big bastard I'd just killed, didn't have anything to listen to. But, unlike it, it didn't smell like anything, either.

I frowned. What? No, wait-

The sound I'd mistaken for the Martian wind was coming from it. Oh, it sounded just like the wind, and even reached my ears at the same time, but now that I listened, I realized the second, subtle layer over or under the howling wind.

'Construct,' Liam said coldly at the same time I reached my conclusion. 'Soulless. You are not really here, if you ever were.' His flaming green eyes burned black for a moment. 'Are you mocking us, or trying to save yourself? Both will end badly for you.'

I wished  I had such a ghastly voice. It was perfect for threatening people, and-

Dumb distraction. Ugh.

'Your fellow aberrant is right,' he midget said quietly, not blinking, still smiling. Aberrants was the term reptilians used for anything outside the bounds of mundane science. 'But he does not comprehend two facts. One, we actually am here. Among many other places. Two, neither of you are a threat to us.'

'Bet?' Liam raised his staff, mana coiling around it. 'You nope rope by-blows have made me  real creative. Necessity is the mother of invention.'

'And the death of smug arseholes,' I added. 'You were clearly the reptilian leader-even if not, you're the last one on Mars, which makes you representative by default. Why did you do this?'

Its smile thinned at that. 'Some sort of aberrant mental affliction. It affected all sapient beings that fit the reptilian archetype. We have almost fought it off, which is...concerning.'

'It's concerning that you're fighting it off?'

'Yes. It shouldn't have affected us in the first place. This form only resembles my first incarnation due to...I suppose you could call it nostalgia. Or attachment. Sentimentality.'

'Ok, Thesaurus Rex,' Liam said tersely. 'So, you don't know squat beyond what the whole damn world knows?'

'Rejoice in this moment,' the reptilian said, turning to look at Liam over its shoulder. 'It is the only time we am not better-informed than you.'

While the two traded barbs, I thought about the reptilian's words. If it wasn't bullshitting us, it was some sort of reincarnated being, and probably something with multiple bodies too.

And what was that damn noise?

'We can compare sizes later,' I said, cutting the two off. 'You said you've almost fought the madness off. Why didn't you stop your fellows earlier? Before Yamada called his Security forces back, or at least when we arrived.'

'We could not,' the reptilian said, sounding frustrated. "We have never been suborned to anything other than our own will. We were unable to control ourselves earlier.' It got a thoughtful look on its face. 'Your dead-and ours. You would like them back, yes?'

'No shit.' I crossed my arms. 'But we're not going to dabble in necromancy.' The expedition personnel had not been criminals. Their bodies would be left undisturbed. Maybe we could pray for a mass resurrection, but...

'No need for such practices,' the reptilian spat, making "practices" sound like a curse. "Science will provide the answer. Behold!'

At first, nothing happened. Then, I realised the air around the reptilian was darkening. Something like a cloud of flies, though the dark shapes were round and much, much smaller. I had to strain my superhuman sight to pick them out.

'We gathered them into this large clump so you could see the fruit of our engineering.' Large clump? What? "Yoctomachines! One yoctometre in diametre. Able to enter and meld with any material. Those stone constructs that appeared to oppose you? Our machines, bonded with this mountain and controlled by our will. We put them back into the mountain when you," it nodded at me. 'Clashed with the Unscarred. You have likely neutralised it by now-through some aberrant method, no doubt. It has never even been slowed down before.'

I crossed my arms. 'Get to the point...' If it even could. At least it wasn't inverting its words. Really annoyed me, that would have. 'What are you proposing? That you put your machines in their corpses or remains, so you can have puppet spies in every country? Hell no.'

It smiled pityingly. 'Yes...because there is so much you surface-dwellers know and we do not. Bah!' A section of the cloud broke off, then scattered further. The yoctomachines were a barely-visible blur to my eyes. I was surprised they didn't turn into energy from the sheer speed.

It didn't take long before the mountain and the devastated ground around it began shaking, as every fallen reptilian gathered around us, their bodies driven by the machines inside them. The giant albino appeared by the tiny reptilian's side, and I had to stop myself from jumping at it again.

'See? No manipulation of intangible, aberrant factors. No breaking of physics,' the midget said, gesturing at the corpses. 'Yes...you should return to Terra, aberrants. The Collective has lowered its defences and is attempting parley with your governments. W think you would not want to miss something.'

'How do you know that?' Liam asked, sounding like he wanted to tackle the reptilian to the ground and search it for communication devices.

Its pitying smile remained. 'We have selves in many places. We are never separated, except by distance. Goodbye.' And it burst into a cloud of yoctomachines. The Unscarred's corpse, eyes glassy, disappeared and reappeared next to the other dead reptlians, who had gathered into a circle. It grabbed one's shoulder, which grabbed two other reptlians, until they were all linked. Then, the group teleported away.

I blinked one, twice. Then, I looked at Liam.

'Was that...magic?'

The lich shook his head. 'Just bullshit, mate.'

We quickly left the mountain behind, travelling to Mars' north pole, where Liam had sent the rest of the taskforce away when I had clashed with the Unscarred. We would give our reports on Earth, the colonel said. Being pushed to the side had annoyed him, as well as some of the others, but they knew they couldn't have done much to help me or Liam.

The Japanese undead hadn't even fought before they'd been whisked away by Liam's spell. A giant, half-buried skeleton told me, in detail, what it could and would have done to the reptilians.

Liam and the ARC mages teleported the taskforce to Earth, then followed. I retraced my steps, so to speak, flying until I reached the Moon, then flying down to Earth. I didn't want to jump this time. My early enthusiasm was gone. I had a bad feeling that things were only going to get worse from there.

***

The Cold Madness-as it had been dubbed by the media after (they hoped) its disappearance- had ended, but its effects were still present.

Eventually, the afflicted, or formerly afflicted, had been allowed out of the ARC facilities, or those of their country's supernatural agency, but they weren't allowed freedom of movement. Not really. Most of them, the least dangerous ones, were allowed to move in designated areas around their homes and workplaces, but they were watched. The most dangerous ones were asked (very politely, of course) to submit to what was, essentially, house arrest. Reactions were...varied.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

On the bright side, after the hole in Siberia was filled with water, they got a sea. Sure, it was cold as balls, and few people wanted to go there to swim or fish, but at least it was there.

My ARC consultant prep course having ended, I was invited to either become a full operative, or return to the civilian sector, after being sworn to silence. I could return for the first option any time I wanted, they said. And, eventually, I did.

But I spent the remaining months of the school year as a teacher. My students had so little left until graduation, and I wanted to be there for the brats. Not all of them were allowed to attend physically, and I tried to visit those who learned online.

My favourite scaled headache was among them. I learned so many new jokes about private tutoring, I just had to make sure the guys I wasn't about to talk to ever learned about them.

Lucian and his older brothers had among those placed under house arrest, but, thanks to Aaron pulling some strings(prowling the Black Sea and sinking anything that looked funny at Romania brought some perks with it), they had been quarantined, for lack of a better term, together, in one of Aaron's houses. This one was located on the outskirts on Bucharest, because the dimensions would have made it awkward if it was in any of the city's residential areas.

I started the video call, and it was Luci who picked up. His bottle-green scales looked polished, and his long, black mustache seemed to have been groomed.

I could tell the confinement was getting to him. He only cleaned up like this when bored out of his mind.

Lucas was sitting on the armrest of an immense stuffed chair in the background, smoking like a chimney. He noticed me and waved without enthusiasm.

'Yeeees?' Lucian drew the word out. 'Finally got curious about the madhouse, eh?'

'Maybe. You three getting along?'

'We're still alive, aren't we? Aari has only threatened to brain me twelve times.'

'Huh. That is impressive.'

'Today.'

'..Ah.' That made more sense. At least they were still normal. 'Hey Luc, can you hear me from there?'

'What?' he bit out around what looked like the bastard lovechild of a cigar and a torch.

'Do you need an assistant at work? Once they let you out, of course.'

He looked at the phone skeptically. 'You into tattoos, Silva? You don't seem...the type.'

'That might be because I'm not. No, it's for an...acquaintance.'

'Ah,' Lucas was grinning now. 'The very friendly one, right?'

Did everyone know about that? No, forget it. I didn't need to know the answer.

'Little brothers,' a new voice rumbled, and I swear my phone's screen cracked a bit. 'What are you screwing around with now?'

A pause. 'Give me that, Luci. The way you're holding it, I won't fit into the frame.'

You know how some people are said to fill rooms when they enter? It's a figure of speech-Aaron didn't fill his living room when he entered, but only because it was bigger than a football field.

All zmei were tall, but Aaron was huge. Lucas was twice my height, a metre taller than Lucian, and he wouldn't have reached his older brother's knee.

I mentally laughed at the image of Aaron taking the tiny phone into his hand and holding it far enough to fit in the frame. The old zmeu had scales the colour of burnished bronze, and wings that would have looked at home on a plane. He had a torso like an old oak, six legs and six tails, one of them split from halfway down-a result of a fight he shouldn't have entered. His nine heads bobbed and shook constantly, like a nest of snakes, looking at me with unblinking red eyes. Each of them was only half-visible, due to a massive red beard and moustache.

'Silva?' he started in a confused tone. 'Why aren't you watching the news?'

'Why, are they showing the horoscope?'

'You're hilarious, boy. Now, turn on your TV. They've been showing the footage over and over since the live transmission ended. And think about what you see and hear. Analyse it. That's what the three of us were going to do before you called.'

'Sounds serious. Which channel?'

He grunted. 'All of them,' then, he turned to his brothers. 'Get your game faces on, brats!'

Luci leapt from the floor to land on Aaron's shoulder. 'See you soon, David.'

'I hope so.'

After I ended the call, I turned the TV on, and Odin was talking to me.

No, I wasn't having a trip. I didn't do drugs, not that they'd have worked if I did.

'...know how Nidhogg was slain. He admitted-shamelessly! He regrets nothing! This was never fated or predicted. It should not have happened. Shouldn't have been able to happen.'

Seemed like I'd caught him in the middle of a rant. He was unstoppable once he got started, but Aaron had said there would be reruns.

'...While fascinating, that does not answer our question, Allfather. If you don't mind-'

'I do mind, human.' Odin's scarred, one eyed face wrinkled in distaste. 'You do not understand. Nidhogg gnawed at the corpses of rapists and oath breakers-now, they are without punishment, for finding a replacement may unravel the threads of fate even further.' He shook his head, beard swaying. 'And it does answer your question. Do not be small-minded, human. The dragon was torment and pain and venom, every thing that gnaws at the soul, ruining it. When it was cut apart, its vile blood spread beyond the World Tree, and poisoned the mind of any that could be called kin to it. It carried the pain that was its domain, and brought madness.'

'And who was it who...murdered Nidhogg?'

Odin spat. 'Why don't you ask him? I'm sure he's still shouting it from the battlements of his castle, like he did at the gates of mine.'

'We will be sure to get his side of the story too, Allfather. But who-'

'In Dagda! The Dagda!' Odin shook his head again and spat once more. 'Fool. He knows the gods of different realms must never cross each other, lest we all be drawn into war. But he did. He snuck beneath the ash's roots like a knave, like a thief, and cut Nidhogg apart with that thrice-damned sword.'

'But the Dagda is... he is said to be a great teacher and sage, like you, Allfather. Why would he do this?'

If Odin cared about the compliment, he didn't show it. 'Damned if I know. He's bound to fertility and agriculture, like my thundering ox of a son. Perhaps the creature's nature offended him, and he sought to end it.'

'But...you do not know? For sure?'

'My ravens might as well be chickens, with what they tell me. And the fool only told me he "should have done it earlier"." Odin scoffed. 'If it wasn't for the sword, mayhaps we could have dressed the dragon's wounds, brought him back to life. The Norns would have allowed it, I'm sure. They loathe everything that goes against the destiny they weave. But all our runecraft and lore cannot heal wounds inflicted by the Answerer.'

'Fragarach?' the reporter asked, receiving a curt nod from Odin. 'This...is indeed a conundrum, Allfather. But, if things are still unclear, why didn't you consult Mimir?'

I wondered that, too. Odin was said to keep the severed, speaking head either in his vault or on his person, and seek advice on the rare occasions his wisdom didn't suffice.

Odin grinned mirthlessly at the question. 'Because we are missing more than Nidhogg at the moment.'