My trembling hands reach toward Nevasca, seeking support at my sudden light-headedness. All the pain, the itching sensations flooding my body, is gone. The frustration is gone. The stifling feeling of unlimited power coursing through my veins has been lifted. Its being woken from a terrible nightmare, just to remember that life is good; you are safe and loved.

A slight moan parts my lips, spilling into the air. The feeling of relief after so long under tension is one that is incomparable. I don’t remember the last time I felt this good, no offense Quinn.

I close my eyes to savor the feeling for a moment. Just a moment. A fleeting figment of space and time, which I savored for as long as possible.

Unfortunately, reality will not be denied. No matter how hard I try.

And believe me, I try.

I try so hard.

But no, the System’s messages won’t be ignored. Even with my eyes closed, they burn into my brain.

Quinn warned me that I wouldn’t have access to Source until I payed off my debt, but I never imagined that the System would encourage me to seek out and kill other ‘users of Source.’ It makes a sick sort of sense I guess. If you assume the System is a living entity, that Source is the building blocks for everything around here, and that there is a finite amount of Source, then it makes total sense to destroy users of it for the System’s sake. The more unclaimed Source, the more the System has to play with, right?

Pushing those thoughts from my mind, I dismiss the notifications. It isn’t my problem. I’m not out here trying to save the World or fix the Universe. I’m just trying to save my familiars and maybe fix things for- or even with- my lover. We’ve had a fast-paced and turbulent relationship, but I think she loves me.

And I might just love her.

Either way, I’ll face that problem when I have to and not a moment before. Right now, I have to see if my deal with the devil even solved my problems.

“Did it work?” Quinn asks as my eyes flutter open. I take in the sight of her, finally able to focus now that I’m free of the pain that haunted me for what felt like an eternity.

The poor girl looks wretched. I mean, as wretched as someone as gorgeous as her could look. There are bags under her eyes, her clothes are dirty and torn, and her wings are doing that fluttery thing they do when she is agitated. If her raw appearance wasn’t enough to tip me off, her aura is bursting with anxiety. The yellow of fear and red of frustration mix and swirl around her, coating her in a disgusting, but vibrant, orange.

The platform beneath us writhes from the impacts its subjugated to. One particularly strong hit distracts me for a moment and I steal a glance at ole Mr. Mountain Face and his tentacle beard. His eyes shift and swivel in search of us, our location obscured by Quinn’s illusions. His tentacles thrash against the platform, hoping to get us with a lucky shot; its starting to look more and more likely. Last, but not least, the light in his maw grows ever brighter as he prepares to wipe this platform out of existence.

Turning away from our impending doom, I look Quinn in the eye. Say what you will about bags under people’s eyes, but the purple is really bringing out the green in her eyes.

“I don’t know,” I confess. “But, I did my best. If we die here, at least I can find some comfort in that.”

“You’re such a melodramatic little shit,” she smiles, pulling me into an embrace. That smile burns itself into my memories, a piece of her I’ll carry with me forever. The complexity of her aura confuses me, but that smile… If I had to describe it I would say that it was a perfect mix of happiness and regret. A wistful melancholy that brought out her beauty in a way that I know will haunt me.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

I want nothing more than to lay in her arms and accept my fate, whatever it may be, but just as I go to close my eyes a movement catches my attention. A strange cloud is heading our way. Its long, thin and growing longer by the second. As the cloud grows closer a high-pitched whistling fills the air. Almost too fast for me to follow, the cloud passes overhead. I watch as the cloud strikes the Unmoving Mountain.

The sound of the impact is forceful and sharp, filling the air. The tentacles stop wailing against the platform. A cloud of dust rises from the Unmoving Mountain’s forehead, making it impossible for me to see how much damage the creature sustained.

Without warning the tentacles continue their onslaught. The movement is enough to clear the lingering dust revealing an utterly horrifying sight. The rock I called from the sky had left nothing but a small divot in the cliffs above the unmoving Mountain’s eyes.

My heart thuds dully in my chest. My arms feel heavy, dragging me down. My legs tremble, struggling to support me. Shame clogs my throat like a lump of lead.

After everything I’ve been through- the hardships, trial, stress, killing, pain, so much pain- it all comes to this. Utter defeat. A cruel twist of fate with nothing but death as my reward. Death for me, Nevasca, Quinn, my familiars, and even my world, held ransom by the System. Woe is me, for I-

“I can’t believe it,” Quinn gasps, her voice breaking. “It worked, you handsome bastard. You did it!”

Wait, what?

As I watch, another impact bursts across the Unmoving Mountain’s face, but its not enough. I can tell by the sound that the second impact was about as heavy as the first, which is not anywhere near enough to kill the creature.

“I actually take back what I said,” Quinn’s voice quavers, her arms no longer holding me, but crushing me instead. “You did it too well. There is no way we can survive this.”

I break free of her grasp, but leave my hands resting on her arms. The touch comforts me.

Quinn is staring off into the distance, slack jawed. I follow her gaze, mirroring her expression soon after. Dozens of those long, thin clouds are heading in our direction. They grow and grow, the whistling of the air displaced by their passage resonating to a screech, then a roar.

The first to arrive slam into the unmoving Mountain, one after the other. The impacts barely faze the monster, but there are more coming. And they look bigger.

But that isn’t the scary part.

The scary part is one particular cloud. This cloud isn’t like the others. It’s a smoldering ball of flame descending from the heavens like the righteous judgement of a god. Even from this distance, with it so obviously behind the clouds, which I now know to be streams of smoke, it dwarfs the others.

“I don’t know what to do,” I whisper, half to myself and half to Quinn. “Even if it doesn’t kill the Unmoving Mountain, the shockwave will obliterate us.”

Quinn says nothing. Instead she takes her hand in mine, straightens her shoulders, and watches the scene before us unfold. Awed by her resolve, I attempt to do the same.

A series of rapid impacts strike the Unmoving Mountain. In retaliation it unleashes the beam of light it was charging in its mouth. The beam superheats the air around it, causing it to distort. The beam crashes into several of the meteorites, disintegrating them. But it isn’t enough to save itself, or us.

Tentacles move to intercept meteorites, exploding into clouds of gore on impact. The Unmoving Mountain screams in defiance as it is forced back under the steady barrage. Under charged beams shoot from the creature’s mouth, attempting to destroy or weaken the meteorites that it can.

It is futile.

At this rate the smaller rocks will drill a hole to the creature’s core long before the large one arrives. If I survive this I wouldn’t mind a taste of such a powerful creature’s core. I bet it would give me a lot of Source.

Wait.

I fumble with my bag, clutching at the cores in its depth. I cram a fistful into my mouth. My jaw aches as I crunch into them, and also something that I’m pretty sure wasn’t a core. Source rushes into me, filling the void inside me with untapped power. A finite resource, but one I can’t hoard if I want to survive.

“Babe,” Quinn’s voice sounds tired, resigned. “What are you doing?”

“My best,” I grin at her through a mouthful of cores. “I can use cores for Source, and I refuse to go down without a fight.”

She looks at me with a blank stare for a moment before giving a slow nod. “I’ll help you as best I can.” She says, looking thoroughly unconvinced. Her gaze drifts down to Nevesca, nuzzling against me with obvious concern, and my other familiars. “There isn’t much hope, but maybe if we all pitch in… Everyone can use Source to manipulate the elements regardless of race, so your familiars should be able to as well. Maybe… Just maybe…”

I draw stone from the platform beneath us to make a half dome, instructing my familiars to do the same. They’re not very good at it, earth manipulation is none of their specialties, but every little bit helps and-

We were too late.

The giant meteorite passes above us, an astronomically large ball of rock and flame. The Unmoving Mountain screams and the world fades to white.