The tunnel is thankfully tall enough that I can fly over the heads of the mermineae without issue. Black stone above allows me to shoot past them without notice. While there are a few of the mermineae active in the centre of the tunnel, most hide themselves on the walls of the cavern.

I need to be able to see the exit, so Grímr leaves a small gap in the darkness ahead of me. It is only a matter of time before one of the svelte creatures notice me through that tiny opening. I push my wings to the limit, flying as fast as I can past the many camouflaged mermineae I can sense hiding in wait.

Hopefully, the entire fact that they are hiding doesn’t mean they are expecting me. It’s concerning, why else would you camouflage yourself except to ambush someone?

I finally spot a break through the walls. There’s no doubt in my mind that is the path to freedom, the number of unhidden mermineae before it is telling. Well, those mermineae are going to be a problem. There’s no way I can fly into that narrow passage without them noticing. Not when I’ll have to weave my way past them to get through.

There are few options for me; I either pass this opportunity up and continue down the tunnel until I find a better, less populated tunnel, or I brute force my way through them.

My impatience to reach the surface might be influencing my thoughts too much. Without much of a thought, I blast the group with my flames and incinerate the fur off their skin. Each of them shrieks and scratches at their body to free themselves from my flames.

I use the distraction to dart between them and through the breach in the wall.

No longer do I have stealth on my side. The screams of the rodents behind me attracts the attention of every mermineae in the crevice to me. All that’s separating me from the surface is this fissure and the enemies within.

The light shining through the split in rock above is blinding. It leaves the black cloud I’m shrouded in exposed like a blemish on the world. There are a lot of mermineae camouflaged along the walls above. I can feel them. Each one is looking squarely at me.

I don’t have time to back down now. Finally, I completely unleash all the power I’ve worked months to build up. The tunnel explodes in a cascade of flame. I replicate the intensity achieved by detonating the fungi traps entirely with my own strength.

Many of the creatures above me scream and flail like those before, but there are exceptions. Three of the mermineae clinging to the walls ignore my flames even as they scorch their skin. One throws themselves at me and only the cover of flames allows me to curve out of the way of its strike before it plummets below.

The next two are less willing to throw away their positions. They wait until I fly close enough to strike. I try to do the same thing with the second; blind them and jerk my body around their extended arm, but after seeing what happened to the last of its brethren, it instead snaps out and grasps my wing. His hand passes right through and my momentum carries me up to the third.

I need a second to recover the physicality of my wing, which stops me from dodging the third’s claws. They pass right through my fiery plumage and chest, but rather than that being it, I feel the weight on my back dislodge.

Grímr slams into the wall. Hard. I hear a snap and his body goes limp. I quickly pull back on the flames around him before they burn him like the mermineae underneath me. Thankfully, he lands on a protruding rock away from the mermineae. I’ll be able to pick him up without issue.

I flap my wings and gain more height. So close. I’m so close to escape.

What? No. I need to get Grímr. Why am I flying away?

I breach the surface and find myself in the bright blue sky. The moon high in the sky and the Titan Alps welcome me. Euphoria floods my chest. I’m finally free.

The feeling lasts for only a moment before it drains to dread. I snap my neck down to the fissure beside the familiar sight of the Titan’s path. How could I? How could I abandon him? I toss my bag with my outfit and spear to the side and dive back down, willingly throwing myself back into that horrific tunnel.

The moment I fall below the surface, I recoil at the mental backlash. The knot screams at me to get back to the surface. My wings jerk in an attempt to pull myself back up, but I’ve already gained too much momentum.

I drop like a rock toward the motionless Grímr and the merminea holding him by the tail. My talons pierce right through his eyes and the fire in the crevice reignites with greater intensity than before. The merminea tries to pull me off, but each time his clawed fingers try to grab at me, they do nothing but slide through my incorporeal form.

My talons and beak are the only things left physical as I claw and strike at it. I continue to amplify the heat around it until the merminea finally releases Grímr.

If you don’t let me grab Grímr, I’m just going to keep coming down here.

The threat only works somewhat. It gives me enough fight against the knot’s control to fall to Grímr and pierce my talons into his back. I don’t have the time or mental control to care about how I get him out, just that I get him out.

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Now, with every part of my mind collaborating, I rocket upward. Away from the mermineae still struggling against the cinders burning through their skin.

I wasn’t able to kill any, most swiping away my flames before they became fatal. But none got away without deep burns through their skin, which is incredibly encouraging. I’m not helpless against them.

Once more under the open air, I let out a sigh of relief and look down at Grímr. The lizard is still not moving. Lacerations litter the pale body, many of which couldn’t be only from the mermineae. Shrapnel from the cavern exploding around us must have hurt him without my notice. As long as he’s still fine on the inside, we’ll be okay.

I soar down and pick up my bag before darting away. The mermineae scatter across the ground below. There are almost as many as in the tunnel below, but I can’t see a single one. Even with the light of the sun and knowing exactly where they are with my thermal sense, I still can’t spot them. Their fur taking on the colour, pattern and texture of the snow and rock around them with uncanny precision.

We are obviously not in the same place we entered. While still at a high altitude of the Alps, the land far below is not familiar in the slightest. From my vantage point, the land appears far flatter than I’m used to. As far as I can see, there are no major hills or mountainous terrain beside the Titan Alps itself.

Actually, the appearance of the Stepps lacks much of the trees that populated the other side. It’s hard to tell from this distance, but direct channels leading away from the Alps discolour much of the land beyond the Stepps. Mostly, they are straight, but sometimes the lines of damaged land curves or widens.

I stretch my wings wide and just enjoy the moment. Feeling free once more is amazing. I’ll need to find where my team has been taken, but for now I just want to relish in the calm that I’d all but forgotten about in my long stint within the Alps.

The moon ahead of me looks higher than I remember and there’s a faint vertical line below it, like a scratch mark in the sky.

I feel an ever so slight tapping on my talon and look down to spot Grímr in his tiny spider-like appearance, half protruding from the back of the lizard.

“Is the body dead?” I ask, slowing.

He nods to me and climbs the rest of the way out and clings to my talon.

“Do you need it?” if the body is of no use to him, I might as well.

He shakes his small body and gestures with a leg to the limp lizard.

With his permission, I burn through it, thankful not to have to deal with all the extra weight anymore. After months of glow-bugs, it’s rather underwhelming. Though, the flavour is decent.

I’ll have to find Grímr another body. A task that might be rather hard, as much of the open plains before me appears uninhabited. There might be no other option at the moment to fly until I find something. Landing in the snow with my torn outfit isn’t something I want to do.

Remus, Bunny and Jav will have to wait until we get ourselves sorted before we can even think about freeing them. Hopefully, Grímr has some idea of where they might have been taken, because I wouldn’t know where to start.

Now that my mind is free from the influence of the knot, I realise my actions in the tunnel were rather horrific. Hundreds of mermineae were killed by leading the monstrosities to them. I don’t truly regret what I did, as it lead to my freedom and those that entrap and imprison others deserve nothing less. But the mass slaughter by incomprehensibly strong beings reminds me far too much of the fate that befell my tribe. As much as I hate that they would imprison rather than kill, they are still people. I’ve seen their sapience. To cause the same sort of devastation that killed my family is not something I want.

Even as I consider how horrible it is to murder all these people, I know I would do it again to protect my freedom and the freedom of those I care for. While I don’t know if I could ever forgive those three for what they did, I don’t want them to suffer that fate.

Death would be a better outcome.

Light scratching at my feet has me look down at Grímr, who jabs a leg backward, gesturing behind me. I twist my neck to find what he’s indicating to and my flames chill the moment I spot it.

High on the Titan Alps is the mountain’s namesake. A titanic buzzard perches between mountains that appear minuscule beside it. Even so far away, it is still far too close. How did I miss it as I came out of the tunnel?

Despite its brown and black feathers, the avian Titan appears to shimmer in the sunlight. Visible distortion warps the entire outline of the creature, but nothing stops me from seeing it twist its head. The air seems to freeze around me as the eye of the massive bird locks onto me. My breath catches and I lock my wings. Even as I lose altitude, I don’t adjust my flight. I don’t dare make any motion that might keep its attention on me.

The Titan’s eye peers right through me. It feels like it sees much more than that which is visible. My entire being is exposed. My past, my thoughts, my fears. The Titan tears me apart piece by piece until there’s nothing left. The world around me fades out and I can’t see anything but that giant eye piercing through me.

Until the eye turns elsewhere.

The world returns to me and I feel like I’ve been twisted inside out. My wings snap wide and I forcefully pull myself back into stable flight. The snow awfully close for comfort.

I glance back to the Titan once more, but it is glancing somewhere far to the north. It’s okay. It’s not looking this way anymore. I calm myself and check to see Grímr clinging to my talon. I offer my other taloned foot and he quickly scurries inside the bag with my outfit.

Didn’t Jav say the Titans were all on the other side of the Alps? Was that true? There aren’t more Titans in the plains below, are there?

Now that I think about it, where has the crocodilian Titan gone? Its molten path has gouged just as much out of this side of the Alps as it has near the pact nations. The remnants of its path move out of sight far in the north-west, toward the moon. At least it’s far enough away not to worry about, which is far better than the Titan behind me.

Still, the mountainous buzzard isn’t moving from its perch, so I should count myself lucky.

I move away from the croc Titan’s path. The mermineae populate the area far too much for me to be comfortable staying near. They all stay hidden, but I’m not willing to risk staying near them now that I’m so visible.

Wait, why are they staying hidden?

Even as the thought goes through my mind, I’m too late to react. Before I can process what is happening, my entire body is torn away from physicality and my flames are dispersed so wide I’m unable to even think straight.

When my mind stops spinning, I feel my body separated into several balls of flame careening toward the ground below. I spread my internal flame and connect each of my separated parts, but my body is slow to come together again.

Whatever hit me was moving far too quick. I couldn’t get a proper look even as it shot through my flames. Whatever it was, I can’t find it. But that is hardly my biggest concern right now; the frozen water below is approaching rapidly.

I won’t be able to pull myself together quick enough to avoid the snow.