Renn ran as one would with broken legs.

At least she was running.

Watching her go as fast as she can down the street, I couldn’t help the sigh of grief that it brought forth.

This was going to be painful. In more ways than one.

Merit would live. Her head had been split open, but I had seen her endure worse. Renn however was in dire straits. It was a testament to just how… far away from a normal human she was.

For her to still be alive, let alone running around…

I had severely underestimated that woman’s durability and tenacity. Having a body that endured such damage was one thing… but having the wherewithal of the mind and spirit to stay awake? To not give in? To not collapse where you stood?

Renn had broken limbs. Hands were thrashed. She had been covered in inflamed bruises and swelling from a rough beating. Her hair had been matted thanks to how much blood had soaked it, from a very obvious head wound in-between her ears. Her tail had been oddly bent askew and not moving… Those quills had been the least of her worries.

Blood loss alone should have put her down.

The only reason I was even willing to entertain letting her go alone with Merit, was a terrible fact.

The Animalia building was just right around the bend. A single block away. Once she rounded the corner it'd be in her sight.

Her pace picked up as she hurried, as if finding a reserve of strength somewhere deep down.

She was a rarity beyond simple statistics.

Hopefully this event wouldn’t ruin her. Though even if it did… I’d not be able to blame her. How could I?

Renn finally turned a corner, and for a small moment my eyes lingered where she had just been. I was up on the roof of a three story building, the one still standing next to the alleyway I had found them in. I had ascended to watch her go, and to assess the situation… but honestly it was also because I wanted to follow her.

By climbing to the roof for a few moments, it had given my hands and feet something to do. Instead of following her I forced them to climb.

A pitiful excuse, but it worked.

Especially since my left hand wouldn’t let go of the bloody spear.

Glancing at the spear I held… I now hated the thing I had been somewhat proud of.

It had blood on it. Not just a single person’s either. The different shades of stains and dried blood told me Brom had used this before… before…

Looking back at the spot where Renn had just been, I did my best to distract my mind.

Did my best and failed.

Turning away from the lingering image of Renn holding Merit as she limped, I slowly looked over towards the source of my current displeasure.

It was definitely like the one I had fought and killed down below. The tree like creature loomed just beyond the buildings in front of me. It looked to be about two or so blocks away from here, and did indeed look like it had emerged right near the piers and ocean.

From here I was able to see that it did have tentacles like the other had. They were just… all on the ground. Its body had grown massively, shooting upward into the sky, but none of its long root like tentacles had grown along the main body or near the head. Maybe they really were more akin to roots than anything else…

Every so often a tentacle however could be seen above the buildings. It was flailing them around, grabbing parts of the broken buildings and streets, and trying to throw them in the direction of what was bringing it pain.

The ships out at sea were still firing volleys. Now there was a good dozen of them out there, which helped, but their cannons weren’t doing much damage to the thing. Even from here I could see the blood and chunks of flesh being destroyed by the cannon fire… but the mere size of the creature rendered most that damage useless.

It’d take them a whole day or more at this rate of continuous fire to actually inflict a killing blow.

If they even had enough ammunition to bring it down in the first place.

A huge tentacle, probably as wide as the entire creature I had just killed, lifted upward into the sky. I saw stuff falling from the thing it was wrapped around, likely debris and dirt. It arched the tentacle, and then threw what it held out to sea towards the ships.

I followed the large object until it crashed harmlessly into the sea, far away from any of the ships.

It could reach them. It had the strength to throw such large pieces of debris… but it likely had never done such an activity before so it was horrible at it. It wasn’t just missing the ships it was aiming at, half the time the stuff it threw went the complete opposite way and into the city. Just how many have died so far? There were smoke stacks from fires all over the city, and not from controlled fires...

The thing threw another bundle of stones, of which only half made it to the sea. The other half splattered all over the port to the south. Even from here I could see the barges and docks shatter and fly into the sky from the impacts.

It wasn’t attacking the city intentionally. Yet it was doing as much damage as if it was.

Thus Brom’s and Merit’s condition…

Turning, I stepped aside as to look down the alleyway I had found Renn in.

A huge boulder was in the middle of the alley. Stuck half into the wall of the building I was standing on, and half buried by the stone of the collapsed building across from me.

What horrible happenstance.

Out of all the places for it to have landed.

Out of all the people for it to have crushed.

“Fate…” I whispered the word I hated most, and wondered how many of the bodies littering the rubble were ones Merit and the rest had killed. Some weapons were laying around… Broken bronze swords, what looked to be the shaft of a wooden spear was sticking out of one of the piles of rubble.

Weapons. Human ones.

Renn had been running. Merit and Brom had found her, and protected her.

Then the boulder had been tossed by the creature, recklessly, and now we were here.

Taking a deep breath, I let out a tiny little groan of anger.

I wanted to blame the creature. The people. The humans. Fly’s people…

But the reality… the harsh reality, like always…

“…Vim…”

The whole world froze for a moment, and I ignored the roars of the creature as more cannon fire hit it.

My eyes slowly slid to where they had been avoiding. Not far from the boulder. In its own little pile…

The fist that had been holding the steel spear I now wielded twitched.

Leaping off the roof, I landed in the alley and hurried over to the pile of debris.

“Brom!” I shouted as I quickly deduced where to start digging. Based off where his hand was and what little of him I could see…

Although careful, I didn’t go slowly. Dropping the spear I pushed aside bricks and debris hurriedly as I unburied my friend.

The scarred head and ear appeared, covered in a layer of dust typical from the collapse of a building. I smiled gently down at the blank eyes of a dead man.

“Brom…” I slowed myself, going from pushing aside large chunks of stone to just… picking away at them, around his head.

“Vim…?” Brom whispered my name. Barely audible as he wheezed painfully.

So I hadn’t misheard. I hadn’t imagined it.

“I’m here Brom,” I said softly as I realized that once again, I was going to have to hear a friend’s final words.

Pushing aside another layer of stone near his neck, I realized there was no point in removing much more.

The stone and dirt hiding his main body was soaked in blood. Flowing down from within like a tiny river.

A tiny wheeze blew some dust into the air as Brom took a breath. As he breathed… I noticed that none of the stones or even the smallest pebbles shifted. He wasn’t even trying to move. He likely couldn’t.

Glancing at the fist to my left, I wondered if it was even still connected to his body. It was still curled, likely because he thought he still held onto the spear.

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“Vim… my sister…” Brom said.

Looking back to Brom, I nodded even though I knew he couldn’t see me. His eyes were already starting to harden, the pupils already empty. The eyeballs caked in dirt and blood. “Reatti is fine,” I told him.

“It’s okay. She’s strong… She’ll be…” Brom’s mouth twitched and trembled as he spoke and I knew if he wasn’t so far gone he’d be weeping right now. Sobbing.

Reaching out, I gently laid my hand on Brom’s head. His hair felt prickly, thanks to all the dust and blood.

“Your last words, Brom. Let me hear them,” I whispered gently.

He twitched. His whole head moved just a bit, shifting rocks… and I realized he had tried to look for me. To see me.

He couldn’t.

“Reatti…” Brom whispered.

I nodded.

“I forgive… For… Mother…” he barely got the words out.

“She already knows, Brom. But I will tell her again, for you,” I said as I realized he was already gone.

She knew he had long forgiven her for that. Had he forgotten?

Was his final moments, in his mind at least, reliving those memories? Those horrible… gut wrenching moments?

Instead of all the years of happiness he and his sister had lived, free of their family and here with the Society… He instead spent his final moments reliving that night? Where he had watched his sister kill his family? Where he had been scarred?

Poor, poor Brom…

“Thanks… Vim…” Brom said… and then never took a breath again.

Kneeling there, I too stopped breathing for a moment.

Gently brushing Brom’s hair free of dust, I tried to think of what I’d say to Reatti. What did I say, and how did I say it so that she didn’t kill herself?

“Oh Brom…” I finally took a breath again as I glanced at the spear.

He had been so very happy over it. So proud. They both had been.

At least he got to use it before he died.

“I’m sorry Brom,” I whispered to the young man, who had always been a little boy in my eyes.

I’d need to come back. Once this was over, for his body. Although mangled, it still belonged to my friend. He had earned his place and…

And he had died to protect Renn and Merit.

Taking another deep breath, I realized something horrible.

Merit could endure such a burden. She carried many deaths on her tiny shoulders. Deaths not only from her own hands, but those like this. Those who had sacrificed themselves for her.

Yet Renn…

Reaching over to grab Brom’s spear, I listened to the sound of the steel weapon as it slid along stones and dirt. It was a pure tone it released, an almost soothing one… especially here in this moment when the whole world was noisy. Noisy with death and destruction.

“Rest well, Brom. You stood tall until the end,” I said as I stood.

Stepping away I headed for the street. I ignored the debris, and the bodies beneath it all.

I needed to slay that creature. Not just to avenge those lost… but to stop any other tragedy from happening.

Fate was cruel like that. This whole city and all the people in it… and it would be my people who suffered the worse if I left fate to its own design.

Brom’s death wasn’t a singular loss.

It would cost us Reatti. I didn’t know how it would go… but I could see the ways it might do so.

Her leaving forever. Her lashing out. Maybe even attacking and hating Renn and Merit for letting her brother die.

Her hating me for not being there to protect him, as I had promised upon finding them all those years ago.

I thought of that night as I ran down the street towards the pier, as to round the buildings and approach the creature from the front.

Reatti, covered in blood. Carrying her small brother on her back who was on the verge of death.

“Again,” I whispered as I reached the end of the road and rounded a corner. I had to make a large birth around a collapsed building, not just because of the pile of debris but all the people trying to un-bury something… or rather, someone.

“Help us out here!” a group of men shouted at me as I passed, but I ignored them.

I had to.

They likely saw the wounds, and the spear, and thought I was a knight of some kind. So I couldn’t fault them for asking for help… but…

“But I’m not their protector,” I told myself as I ran past a family on the side of the road. They were bundled around someone on the ground. An older man was kneeling there, in the center of them, and he was holding what looked to be a young boy. He was wailing, cursing his god.

A typical scene during such carnage.

As I headed closer towards the creature, I was a little surprised at just how many people were still around. Most were hurt, or helping those who were… but it was still shocking to see so many humans willingly staying near a creature that loomed over them like a giant. Usually humans ran away from such things.

I slowed as I noticed the gleam of armor. Huffing a breath, I sized up what looked to be a small regiment of some local knights. I didn’t recognize any of the emblems on their capes or armors, but it was little doubt they were part of Lumen’s military. Or at the very least, members of some nobles entourage. “Get that blasted thing loaded already!” a man shouted at the top of his lungs. He was on a horse, that was having trouble in settling down. It kept bucking and trying to run away.

As I approached I realized they were all around a giant ballista of some kind. It looked terribly out of place in the middle of Lumen’s streets, and I couldn’t help but wonder where they had gotten it. It was one of the huge ones that normally was found on a rampart, yet this was the port. There were no large fortifications or walls around here. There were auxiliary towers along the port, but I knew from experience they had cannons not ballistae.

No matter.

Studying the large weapon and the huge bolt that half a dozen men were trying to load onto the mechanism, I wondered if it’d work.

As I stared at the ballista, and the men fumbling around with it, I realized I recognized this part of town. Right next to the group of knights, although half destroyed… was the blue restaurant that Renn and I had eaten at not long ago.

It was a crumbled mess now. Its signs and banisters were all over, and chairs and other items were scattered everywhere… even some food was on the ground nearby. What looked to be some kind of ribs was just off to my right, lying in a pile of dirt.

Renn wouldn’t like this.

Once close enough to the group I was able to look down the road they were aiming at. Far down the road, past the crumbling infrastructure, was a world of roots.

The sight of hundreds if not thousands of roots of all sizes wiggling around made me almost think twice about engaging that creature. Those tentacles were a pain in the ass.

Not far past the floor, and nearly wall, of roots… was a wall of what looked to be wood from this distance. Looking up at the creature, I noticed that this thing did have a mouth and eyes like the one beneath had… but oddly, unlike the rest of its body, the mouth and eyes hadn’t grown obscenely large alongside the rest of its body.

I squinted and frowned as I stared at the small mouth about half way up the huge body. It was bigger than the mouth of the beast I had already fought, but definitely not scaled properly. It made it look a little… funny, actually.

A volley of cannon fire impacted the creature as I studied it, and for a brief moment the mouth was hidden by smoke and blood from the impacts.

The beast roared again, and from the way the world around me vibrated… from the ground beneath me, to the very air around me, I could tell the roar was coming from more than that mouth. Maybe there were other mouths elsewhere…? Or…

Glancing down at the ground, and the tiny pebbles shaking around my feet… I hoped that all of the sounds and rumbling beneath my feet were just from the creature’s buried root tentacles and not because there were more creatures beneath the city.

Hopefully this wasn’t a forest of monsters. Like a giant mushroom network or something.

Something huge and heavy landed nearby and I followed the sound of it. Down the street, near the creature’s base, where most of the buildings were already flattened and crumbled… was something huge falling down.

A giant chunk of flesh landed loudly, sounding as heavy as the wood it looked like. The roots it landed on trembled and shook violently, as if it wasn’t able to tell that the stuff landing on its own body was its own flesh.

The cannon fire was hurting it. More than I thought, actually. All over the massive body were massive chunks of flesh missing. Huge holes, some so big even I felt bad for the thing. It was nearly raining blood around the creature; there was a gleam all over the body from the blood flowing down from the countless wounds, and…

“Fire!”

My attention snapped away from the creature as I watched a lever get pulled, and the ballista shot backward as it released the massive bolt.

I flinched as two men got crushed by the ballista. They hadn’t gotten out of the way quick enough. One had his legs crushed, the other had been kneeling down next to the ballista for some reason, and had half his body crushed under the ballista.

As the wounded men shouted out for help, screaming in pain, I instead followed the bolt the ballista had fired.

Thanks to the huge body of the creature, even the inept knights who obviously had no idea what they were doing had been able to hit their target. The bolt struck the beast a few dozen feet above the roots, impaling itself into the beast.

The beast was already roaring, so there was no way to tell if the thing even registered the bolt. But it had hit. And it had been able to pierce its skin. It hadn’t gone all the way into the beast, let alone thru it, but it had gone about half way in. I could just barely make out the iron shaft sticking out of it from here.

“We hit it!” one of the knights noticed, shouting out over the rest as they tried to help their comrades.

“Blasted fool!” the man who had been giving orders earlier had un-mounted from his horse and had been the first one to rush to the hurt knight’s aid. The one whose leg had been crushed was being pulled away from the ballista and the group by two other men, and based off the way his armor was curled and crushed that leg wasn’t just going to need to be amputated he might even die before they could treat him in time.

The man stuck beneath the ballista however…

Nearly all the of the knights were trying to lift the ballista off the man. Thanks to the broken street, he somehow had luckily been rolled over right where there was more dirt than stone. His armor was crushed a little, but he wasn’t directly beneath the main wheel of the machine. He was simply stuck thanks to how little distance was between the ground and the bottom of the machine.

Stepping forward, I sighed as I weaseled my way through the bundle of knights. My spear let out little clanks and notes of pure sound as it bumped against their armor.

“Huh?” “Hey!” “Wait…” Those who I bumped into and pushed aside were startled, but no one really tried to stop me as I got a hand under the ballista.

I lifted the ballista off the ground, and held it firmly since it started to roll forward. Holding it in place I watched as the knights hurriedly pulled their fallen comrade out from under the machine. Once he was far enough away I let it down.

“Did you see that?” I heard someone whisper behind me, but I ignored them.

Being seen right now doesn’t matter.

“Look at his back,” another whispered.

Once the ballista was back on the ground, and everyone stepped back a little I too stepped away. I ignored the looks of the knights, and was thankful not a single one tried to stop me as I headed for the creature.

Walking down the destroyed road towards the tall beast, I glanced at the spear I still held.

Brom’s spear.

“May the blood of its heart satiate your soul,” I whispered a small prayer to the thing.

Looking back at the creature, I glanced up at the sky above me. Half a dozen tentacle roots were coiling around up there, above the buildings. Some preparing to throw rocks at the ships, others just hanging there without purpose. I could hear the roots scraping the world around me, breaking buildings and roads as they gathered up large boulders… or likely anything big enough to throw.

The creature didn’t notice me as I approached… but why would it? It was too big. I too small. The closer I got, the more I realized how big it was.

“As big as the tree in the Owl’s Nest, likely,” I realized. I had to crane my neck upward to see the top of the beast from this angle, and it was nearly impossible.

At least four, maybe five stories tall. An impossible creature in today’s age.

Yet not the first I’ve faced let alone the biggest.

“Just another tree to fell,” I said as I took a breath… and charged forward.