I got past the broken bridge, and now the island was really shaking. I quickly got into the car and started it up, flooring it to go Mousethief level speeds. ‘Why is everything shaking?’ I asked.

‘The being is trying to escape the containment structure inside the Energy Vacuum Missile. Well a part of it. It didn’t do this before, since it would have broken the connection. Now that it has already been cut off from its main body, it doesn’t care,’ Mes explained.

‘What is it exactly?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know. I truly don’t. But anything that can into Energy Vacuum Missile, is not simple. I would increase the vehicles speed. A disaster is imminent. I will shield you,’ Mes said and then they darted behind my car before I could say anything else.

The entire island seemed to rise up and then back down. The car leapt into the air. The suspension barely held. I kept my hind paw pressed firmly down on the accelerator. Suddenly the nearby trees were bent down by a huge gust of wind coming from behind. Checking in the mirror I could see huge chunks of the island rising up and then crashing back down behind me.

Mes suddenly reappeared next to me, a lot dimmer than before. Also, their clothing was ripped, and they were missing one of their eyes. ‘I intervened. It wasn’t pretty. But the worst-case scenario shouldn’t happen now. I think covered my tracks, but this is going to create waves, no matter what.’ Mes replied.

‘What was it?’ I finally asked.

‘There is no word for it and it is best not to name such things. A broad term would be eldritch.’

‘If it isn’t dead…should I go back?’ I asked.

‘No. Absolutely not. You have no chance against it. I weakened it massively as it broke through containment. But you are not at the level where you can fight what remains and win. For now we need to get off this island. It is about to erupt,’ Mes explained.

‘Erupt? But there is no volcano here?’ I asked.

‘There will be soon. My fight with the being carried over. I am going to rest. Get away from here.’ Mes then disappeared. There was still shaking as I kept driving the car back towards the town. I quickly drove through the town and to the pier where my motorboat was.

The water was incredibly choppy and I could see the Metalshark out in the distance. I hopped on my motorboat and quickly started it. It was rough getting through the waves. I quickly docked to the rear of the Metalshark, Mousethief had swung the cutter around.

“What is happening?” he asked me.

“We need to get away from here quickly,” I replied. Thankfully he didn’t ask questions but raced to the control room. After securing the motorboat, I followed him. The cutter quickly accelerated as I collapsed into a chair in the command room.

I looked back at the island. That was when an explosion of fire and rock erupted out from the center of the island. Mousethief let out a loud squeak in surprise. I tensed up as I saw fire, smoke, ash, shooting up in the distance.

“There is no volcano there,” Mousethief said and turned towards me. I opened my mouth and then closed it. I didn’t know how to explain everything. It took a moment to get my thoughts in order.

“There was a device underground. The Covenant Church was digging it up. Mes called it Energy Vacuum Missile, which is super advanced apparently. The creatures activated it, but there was something on the other side that was controlling them. Mes shut down the missile before the creature could come through fully. But a piece of it did that, or Mes’ battle with it,” I replied.

“Wait, it fought?” Mousethief asked and I nodded. “Well that isn’t good,” he muttered. “That was the one thing it never wants to do. Fight itself.”

“So now what?” I asked as we both looked at the exploding and burning island behind us.

“Now, we get our stories straight. I am sure you can figure out something,” Mousethief said. We both kept watching the island destroy itself. Even as it got dark, there was a glow past the horizon and a growing cloud of ash spreading out.

“Good news,” Mousethief finally said.

“What?” I asked.

“Well you may have just won the war,” Mousethief replied.

“What?” I asked as I turned towards him.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“All that ash going into the atmosphere. Well, it has been recorded that volcanic eruptions make the weather colder,” he replied. I frowned at that.

“Then what about the Quackening?” I asked.

“They also bring massive amounts of ash and destruction. The snakes would gladly have one go off in the middle of the land the Covenant Church controls. But out here, no one will care that much. A shame we won’t get credit for it,” he said.

“Wait, the Covenant Church is looking to blow up volcanoes?” I asked.

“Of course. They have detonated two already. But the effects are long term. Decades to take effect properly. This will make number three. There will probably be more,” he replied.

“To freeze the snakes?” I asked.

“Yes, but there are food production concerns. Not something to worry about. A shame about the island. It would have been a great retirement location,” Mousethief muttered the last bit.

“I better get started on that report,” I muttered and got to work. Lionel was getting all the blame unfortunately. I couldn’t include anything about an eldritch monster without explaining how I got that knowledge. Which would mean explaining Mes.

Instead, Lionel activated the device, killing the creatures. But he had set it to self-destruct. No idea how he survived. I felt bad for him. Even if he was working the snakes, he had no chance once I had taken him with me. It was a shame, but I should have thought of that.

Filling out my report in full, I let Mousethief look it over. “Is this Lionel real?” he asked me.

“Yes. He was there,” I replied.

“Good, then there will be no issues. The Covenant Church can get information from the snake continent, and something this major they will confirm that he actually existed. Or already have information about his existence,” Mousethief replied.

“Wait, really?” I asked.

“The Covenant Church has a much deeper foundation than you think Mittens. They aren’t one of the three super powers without having the power to back it up. Don’t think they will be an easy target if you do go after them one day,” he told me.

“I…”

“Don’t even try to lie Mittens about what will happen. The fact that you are keeping Mes, means that you enjoy fighting. I personally don’t think you will go against them on purpose. You will just get too strong and then will get worried and act. Then you will respond, and it will be a mess.”

“So, this mission, success or failure?” I asked.

“Success. A volcano went off and the island was already a write off for the most part. You won’t get yelled at. I mean, you are an Assassin, not some sort of technical expert than can somehow use a missile abandoned by a super civilization and set it off. So you won’t get any of the blame. Not a lot of credit either unfortunately. Since everything was destroyed.”

“Well, that is good, at least it won’t be a black mark,” I replied.

“Since you rushed to the location, my report, and our ship’s transponder will back that up. I wouldn’t be worried. This kind of thing happens. There was enemy action thankfully. If Lionel wasn’t there, then it would have been a lot more difficult to explain. But with his presence, then you are in the clear and there won’t be awkward questions,” Mousethief explained. I felt quite a bit of tension leave me.

“Thanks for explaining all that,” I replied.

“Hmm, no problem. Mousethief knows. Good job getting out of there alive,” he replied.

“I was worried there for a while.” I got up and stretched. I then made my way outside to the rear of the cutter. I looked at the fading glow in the distance behind us. I could see ash clouds spreading out over head.

That had been incredibly sudden. ‘Avatar.’ Mes appeared with bandages around themselves and one of their eyes.

‘Mittens. You are worried and have questions,’ Mes pointed out. I nodded slowly at this.

‘You say you are a weapon. But what is that Energy Vacuum Missile? What is this other side?’ I asked. Mes let out a long sigh.

‘Your authority level isn’t high enough for the more detailed answers. The simple answer is that the Energy Vacuum Missile is a projectile weapon of the highest order. It draws energy from elsewhere to fuel its attack and power itself.’

‘The other side is where there is energy. Normally there would be safeguards to prevent what happened, but the missile was damaged. And a being where energy was being drawn from tried to come here. If it had, then we would all be dead. That is the only reason I acted.’

‘But it isn’t dead,’ I replied.

‘No, but there is just a piece out there. And it will take time for it to get to civilization. And it is weakened. Imagine losing a claw, it is like that. Dangerous but not like the entire being,’ Mes explained.

‘And I can fight something like that one day?’

‘What kind of enemies do you think I want you to kill? Creatures? Apostates? Snakes? Ancestral Spirits? Even the last one barely registers to my power. You don’t have the understanding yet to realize how dangerous the situation truly was.’

‘What do you mean by that?’ I asked.

‘You have no understanding of how strong I am. You just know I am strong. Very strong. But you can’t quantify that. That is my point. Knowing won’t help you. You survived, the entity is incredibly weak. And everyone and everything here isn’t dead or worse.’

‘It can’t connect back?’ I asked.

‘No, it can’t. Maybe millions or billions of years from now, but there isn’t enough energy for it to empower itself. The technology level is pitiful compared to the level of an Energy Vacuum Missile.’

‘And what built that?’ I asked wanting answers.

‘Like I said a civilization that I don’t know about. There are many things out in the Firmament. It is infinitely vast. Even my existence is a speck of a speck of a speck to its vastness. While I know much, I don’t know everything. That was why I had to work it out from first principles.’

‘Should I be worried about other things like that?’

‘Probably not. But I did notice that the creatures fiddling with it had been trying to remove and take energy with them away from that site. It was primitively done. But replicating that technology is not a good idea. But that will take a long time. Something we don’t have to be too worried about right now.

‘Are you okay?’

‘Thanks for asking. I will recover, in time. Killing things helps. I spent a lot of power to save you. I won’t put it as a debt, but I took a huge risk,’ Mes said with a slight pout.

‘Thank you. I am going to sleep. I hope you get better,’ I replied. Mes gave me a nod and disappeared.