Imaginary fire brushed against Mera’s hair; her eyes lost in a sea of wistful memories. A blink, a beat, and she found herself forward in time. Staring up at the endless blue sky of Esthes-3, she’d been quiet for a while, leaving Gira in an uncertain, awkward stillness as he waited for her to continue talking. She slid a hand on the lowglider’s cool metal and started the machine up again.

  “Do you mind if we head to the sea?” she asked quietly, her gaze lost in the distant glow of the shallow Ordovis Sea.

  “No? Go ahead.” Gira said, trying to figure out what her expression meant. The lowglider whirred to life, causing an eavesdropping Aria to brace herself as the glider moved.

  Mera stared out, her crimson-pink eyes swelling with emotion as the lowglider quietly brushed over flowery hills, shrapnel and Rak’da remains scattered around abandoned ruins. The silver city of Krreat glistened far off to their left, its deep shadows cutting across the horizon as its citizens woke. Gira leaned back on the glider’s railing and looked up, his eyes catching a flicker of something in the distant blue.

  They gently arrived on the rocky coastline, a sheer cliff separating the glider from shallow waters covered with old ruins reclaimed by life. Abandoned gliders, old fishing boats, and strange litter spread across the beach, decorated in colorful lichens and mosses. Mera parked the glider and leaned on the railing, her eyes brushing against the calm water.

  “The sea calls to me…” Mera said, her voice soft against the morning breeze. “It sings me a song—a lullaby—but… I can’t answer it.” She embraced herself as she stared out into the open water. “Because I’ll drown.”

  Gira looked at her, bewildered. “You can’t swim either?” Either? Wait, could I swim, or was it…

  Mera smiled solemnly, shaking her head. “I can swim… I could even teach you, but…” she took a deep breath. “Gira, this meaningless story, this personal part of myself… I hope you’ll listen with an open heart till the very end.”

  Gira sensed the shift in her demeanor, her own arms tight around her body as she stared out into the sea. He watched her for a beat, unsure as to what to say, so he simply nodded.

  Mera took a deep breath as she continued to whisper her sullen threnody.

  The Starglider rumbled, the loud thudding of ice raining down onto its outer hull causing Mera to dig her hands into Veladonna’s waist as she reeled in pain and terror. Licking fire, starlight unseen, Bayren’s essence careless and wild doused the weary child in aimless hatred. To desecrate his flickering humanity, the Imago forced his blooming emotions to overwhelm the reality of self, leaving behind a blackened, charred thing, doused in endless fire rumbling under a sea of melting ice. Boiling away at his sanity as he raged against the rune that had cursed and unearthed this icon of Khaum.

  Yet against all odds, in the depths of boiling fire, a fading spirit, a memory lulled his weakened mind. Fires calming, soothing, as the Calamity Lord began to rise once more. To slay his enemies and reclaim his mind, a fervent spell of will.

  Rusk and the others felt the fiery Kyyr wane in its rage; the imaginary flames lulling into a soothing warmth, their Kyyr skins easing around them.

  Lirien came to a stop. “Wait!” she pressed herself against a wall as the fiery Kyyr waned. “I can search further during this lull.”

  Rusk felt the fiery Kyyr shifting, his eyes shooting upwards, imagining the battle above, his mind lost in possibility, before turning to his fellow ranger. “Zhenyu, how does her Kyyr work?”

  “Ah, her Kyyr is kind of like an upgraded version of Kyyr skin. She can unravel it into strands or weave it over itself. Right now she’s spreading her Kyyr out like a web looking around with it.”

  “What about you? What’s your Kyyr ability?”

  Zhenyu looked a little embarrassed. “Mine’s a simple amplification Kyyr ability; it lets me build Kyyr over time. I was told I’d be a monster someday. As long as I didn’t die young… almost messed that one up today.” He gave Rusk an awkward smile. “Lirien and I graduated the same year from Babylon Academy, but we didn’t really know each other until recently. She was in the Heraclian roll, so you know we all looked up to her. It’s kinda weird how I ended up working with someone so popular.”

  Lirien pulled away from the wall, her face hardened. “I found Pax. But something else just became urgent.”

  “What?” Rusk asked.

  “I found Miss Veladonna’s location and so has the enemy.”

  “How can you tell?!”

  Lirien was already moving. “In the upper recreation deck I sensed Veladonna and two others—presumably Lady Galene and young Mera. The problem is, there is not one but two Diodecians. One is definitely aware of their location. Its Kyyr was spread wide searching—like mine.”

  Rusk picked up his pace. “You sure it knows?”

  “With the lull in Bayren’s Kyyr and the range its Kyyr was pushing? It definitely knows. Pax is also heading up there as we speak. So I suggest we start running.” She said, suddenly bursting into a sprint.

  Rusk was mortified, his Kyyr flaring before he forced it down, steadying his breath. His training took over. His cool, defiant self, carved from endless deaths, guided him as he followed Lirien.

  Above a couple of floors towards the center of the massive ship, in a room overlooking the massive cargo hold of the Starglider, was a spacious recreation deck. It was nothing fancy: a couple of worn couches, a food bar, and some screens and computers. It was a place built for utility—somewhere long-shift workers could sit, eat, and decompress without ever fully disconnecting from duty. The far wall was dominated by a floor-to-ceiling window. Thick panes of reinforced glass separated the recreation hall from a narrow industrial balcony beyond it. Safety rails and maintenance tracks ran along the exterior platform, giving crew access to overhead rigging and cargo gantries. Beyond this, the cargo hold opened up. It was immense, like a huge dark colosseum; it stretched far across the underbelly of the Starglider. Tiered loading platforms ringed the perimeter, vanishing into shadow as they curved along the hull. Suspended claw cranes hung like dragon's claws over the central void. Reaching from the darkness were towers of crates, lined in irregular aisles. In low light, the space felt less like a storage bay and more like a dead reef waiting for life to occupy it.

  To most people, that would be the end of this room, but hiding behind a fake wall, huddled in a panic room, ?Veladonna, Galene, and Mera sat under dim light.

  A Diodecian entered the dark upper recreation deck. A muscular octopus specimen, his skin scaly, eyes sharp and so black they devoured the little light that was given off from the nearby displays. Ice hammered the Starglider’s hull. The dim amber emergency strips along the floor swelled in amber light, but they were nothing more than speckles compared to the crimson bioluminescence that lit up along the Diodecian's body. He lowered himself and pressed his face against the carpeted floor, his facial tendrils spreading wide as he pulsed bioelectric energy coated in fine Kyyr. The esoteric mass carrying the current through unnatural things. The Diodecian rose slowly, staring at an innocuous wall. Suppressing his Kyyr, and dampening his loud steps, the Diodecian reached the wall, his sensitive tendrils studying the surface, until they found a subtle seam.

  Behind was a small room; there were some containers stacked along one side, and a narrow bed pressed against the back end of the room. Veladonna was sitting on the bed with Mera on her lap. Galene sat next to them on her support chair.

  Veladonna gently caressed a weeping Mera, the little girl’s sensitive Kyyr receptors still reeling from the fierce faux fire of the Calamity Lord’s blind rage. Galene didn’t fare any better; her body pressed hard against her support chair, she wept in solemn silence.

  “It’s okay…everything will be okay.” Veladonna whispered, patting Mera. She extended her own Kyyr in a careful veil, shielding the child from the lingering sting of phantom flame. She continued to soothe her when—

  Crrrrrrrrreeeeeeek…

  Veladonna’s eyes snapped toward the sound. Her nerves tightened at the sight of the Diodecian’s quiet, horrific stare. His scaled frame filled the doorway, bioluminescent patterns clashing with the emergency glow. Her cyan eyes flared wide. She trembled. Mera felt it—the tremor running through Veladonna’s body. Fighting through stinging Kyyr, she looked up at her and followed her gaze. The horror hit all at once. Her fingers locked around Veladonna’s uniform. Veladonna felt the pull, glancing down, and she found the shuddering child. Duty overrode fear. Duty smothered her terror.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  The Diodecian drove his meaty fingers into the metal gash he had carved, forcing them deep. Steel groaned as he tore the wound wider. Galene stared up in stunned silence as the walls bent under the strain. Veladonna moved—she snatched Mera up and set her on her mother’s lap. Her fist slammed a nearby control, and a new door slid open beside them. In one fluid motion she rose, seized the support chair and pushed Mera and Galene through the narrow doorway as the metal behind them shrieked and split wider.

  An arm burst into the panic room, the dark shadows allowing the Diodecian’s scarlet pores to shine as it broke into the panic room with a beastly groan.

  Behind the Diodecian, a vile chittering erupted through the recreation deck. Pax crashed into the room. Following the Diodecian’s signal, he saw him halfway through the breach, tearing into the hidden chamber. Pax lunged without hesitation, seizing the Diodecian and ripping him back from the wall. He stuck his four tendrils into the wall and ripped the plating like paper. He hissed as he slipped inside, his devolved nostrils flaring as his predatory senses focused on Galene’s intoxicating scent. His scales cracked as a perverse smile spread along his deformed jaw. Pax let out a gross, almost gleeful chitter as he pushed himself into the tight escape tunnels that connected the panic rooms.

  The Diodecian regained his bearings, his sensitive Kyyr senses turning toward the entrance; somewhere nearby he could sense approaching souls. With a groan, the Diodecian rolled his muscles and stomped toward the approaching souls.

  Rusk reached the top of the stairs first, his adrenaline maxed as he stared down the hallway. Standing in the middle was the Diodecian, his dark scales and scarlet pores flashing ominously. But Rusk’s eyes wandered past the fishman and to the ruptured entrance to the panic room.

  “No…NO!” Rusk screamed as he pulsed Kyyr through his body. His Kyyr skin squeezed his muscles, joints woven in energy as he ran straight at the Diodecian. The fishman raised a fist, its own Kyyr unfurling as ?crimson pulses of electricity erupted from his hands. He tracked the rushing Rusk, his muscles pumping sodium in the right junctures, energy building as he swung, a strike bound by inevitability. Electricity licked at Rusk’s hair and—

  Nothing.

  The Diodecian felt his swing follow through the air, as if he’d punched a ghost, his black pupils glimpsing an enraged side glance slipping past him. I missed?! The Diodecian wondered as he shifted his weight to catch Rusk when—

  Pain!

  The Diodecian felt a fist crash into his gut; the force sending him flying up, his head smacking against the ceiling as he unceremoniously fell down. Jumping back after the sudden strike was Zhenyu, Kyyr crackling around his fists as he began to charge energy again, his body coated in a ghostly veil woven by Lirien.

  “Focus up Octopus! You’re dealing with us!” Zhenyu shouted.

  The Diodecian groaned as he rose to his feet. He glanced back, but Rusk was already gone. His dark eyes narrowed into a deep, furious frown.

  Zhenyu’s excitement waned as he felt the harrowing bloodlust of the Diodecian. “L-Lirien you really think we can take this guy on?”

  “I do.” Lirien said with a cold, measured tone. “So focus, don’t be greedy with your strikes—I’ll make sure you don’t die.”

  Zhenyu swallowed as he lowered into his battle stance and took a deep breath. “Thanks.” He stared at the muscly Diodecian that was cracking its neck. “Oh boy, let’s do this.”

  Beyond the Diodecian, crashing against the narrow backrooms of the glider, Rusk found himself rushing through the cramped, dimly lit nowhere. Muscles beating, senses screaming, he dove deeper and deeper into the metal maze, his only guide the indentations and torn marks left behind by a crazed Pax. Clattering. Distant but audible, he was getting closer, dust wafting through the air, as he went lower and lower until he erupted out into another cramped panic room. The hidden door here was open, the edges warped by grievous force. Rusk erupted out and was met with a horrified scream echoing from his left. As he turned to get his bearings, he recognized not only the scream but also their location. Stretching across the massive void of the Nordos cargo hold was a SkyBridge—a structure designed to overlook and span the vast gap below. His senses overwhelmed, rage building as he caught sight of Pax looming over a toppled support chair. There Galene was defensively holding onto Mera, and to his horror, spread across the rose gold floor was a long streak of blood leading to Veladonna.

  “PAX!” Rusk screamed.

  Pax’s deformed smile vanished, snapping his head to spot a rushing Rusk, his scaled brows pressing against his skull into a deep frown as he turned to face the rushing ranger. “RUSK!” he roared, voice coarse—inhuman. His tendrils flared, chain blades of black chitin tearing against the windows that overlooked the cargo hold, talons denting metal as he rushed to meet Rusk.

  Rusk pulsed Kyyr through his body, souls straining, body groaning, eyes wide as he faced the bladed tendrils reaching for him. Pax's massive form consumed the fleeting light, an all-consuming void, dead set on devouring his hated prey. Scaled tendrils were centimeters from Rusk; his eyes flashed.

  Vwooosh—?!

  Rusk dodged expertly, charging Kyyr into his foot as he wove through the strikes, before following through—ushiro geri—his head turned first, sharply twisting, staring over his rear shoulder, he focused on a kink in his armor, Kyyr focusing on his right heel. Pax began to reach out with his claws. Rusk’s hips began to rotate as his left pivoted, his shoulders rolling around his center of mass. Weight, muscle, and power pressed on his left leg. His right leg drawn, body compressed like a spring, and—!

  BOOM!

  His heel drove outward, hips snapping as his right leg shot out with crackling Kyyr. A concussive strike that rattled his internals, the pulsing Kyyr igniting with an icy edge, sending Pax staggering back, blood spilling from his mangled face. Tendrils reeling with recoil, only for one to be caught by Rusk, his icy heel crashing against metal as he pulled the tendril over his shoulder, and aiming for the window he pulsed raging Kyyr, sending the beast flying out into the open darkness!

  CRASH!

  Pax’s whole body was sent flying, his tendrils peeling as frost spread across his scales, his violent Kyyr convulsing as he fell into the void of the hold.

  “RUUUUUUSK!” He roared as he disappeared.

  Rusk, steel-willed, focused, ran straight past eyes studying the damage Pax had caused. At a glance, Mera and Galene seemed fine, aside from some minor scratches and Mera’s whimpering because of her missing mask. Rusk worked fast; he put the support chair upright, and with a single swoop carried Mera and Galene as he checked for wounds. “Everything will be okay!” he said, worry spilling through his horrified face as he rushed over to Veladonna. “Vela…” He leaned next to her. She was alive, but her arm was broken and there was a massive gash spreading across her ribcage. He put a hand on his chest one more time. He pulsed Kyyr and whispered fragile words, Kyyr spiking—

  “RUSK!” Pax roared, a tendril reaching through the broken window as he re-emerged with a violent surge.

  Veladonna took a shocked breath as she was helped up by Rusk.

  Before she could process the situation, Rusk grabbed her by the shoulder, “Get away from here!”

  “R-Rusk!?” She stammered, but her words were cut short by Pax’s screaming.

  “HOW!? HOW DID YOU?” he screamed before suddenly roaring. “RUSK WHY DO YOU TAKE EVERYTHING FROM ME!”

  Rusk looked at Pax confused, as he pulled the support chair closer to him and handed Galene and Mera over to Veladonna.

  “Pax, what happened to you?”

  Pax hissed, “I DEVOTED MYSELF TO LORD BAYREN AND HE CAST ME ASIDE FOR NOBODY LIKE YOU!? WHY!?”

  “What? What are you talking about?!” Rusk looked at him bewildered as Veladonna began to pull away with Galene and Mera in hand. “Pax, I don’t know what’s gotten into you but you have to stop this!”

  Pax’s tendrils writhed in anger, shattering the nearby glass as he began to approach. “STOP?! It’s too late for that… Lord Bayren would never forgive me, leaving you to relish more of what’s MINE!”

  Rusk took a step back, confused, as he looked at the miserable monster whining and screeching as it lumbered ever closer, a pit in his heart twisting with nothing but anxious pity. “Lord Bayren can forgive you! If you explain what’s going on he won’t hurt you. He’s a kind man, you have to trust me!”

  Pax froze midstep, his body freezing up as he suddenly stood straight, his tendrils digging into the metal. “How could you say that… Such BLASPHEMY TO JUDGE MY GOD!” His blades tore the hallway, the suspended structure groaning as metal crashed onto the glider beyond as somewhere above Bayren ignited his flames once more.

  “But he’s not a god!”

  Pax stopped, his visage darkening as his Kyyr began to boil. “How can you say that after he brought YOUR UNGRATEFUL SOUL BACK?! How could you deny SUCH A REALITY! HOW DARE YOU! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU SNEAK YOUR WAY INTO HIS TEMPLE AND, AND TARNISH EVERYTHING WITH YOUR PATHETIC ESSENCE!”

  “Huh?! What the hell are you talking about?! Temple? Essence?”

  Pax got closer, his bladed tendrils tearing the metal. “You PARASITE! You took advantage of his overwhelming kindness—But—but can’t you feel it now? His rage. The fire in the air. How it burns? How it tears at the soul! Calamity is a tragedy our LORD BARES! I understood it. It came to me too! This form, this thing I’ve become! I WAS MEANT TO STAND WITH HIM! With her… But I was cast aside, and. AND HE CHOSE YOU! Why?! WHY WHY WHY WHY!” Pax roared, his words and logic bending and twisting as his visage cracked, scales wrenching against his faux muscles, his alien form creaking.

  Veladonna and the girls had already made it quite far from the two, leaving Rusk to stand alone before the deranged Pax. Rusk took in the beast's incompressible blabber, confused yet taking his words into consideration. How long has this been stirring? Why is he so upset? Why does he feel I took anything from him? His soul crackled. Energy tearing at his bearing, his essence warped, in frustra. A soul at its very limit, shattered to the edge of reasonable use. His very being collapsing under the weight of his own Kyyr bracing against his human desire.

  Protect.

  Pax let out a beastly roar, as a blast searing Kyyr bloomed from above, casting the vast warehouse in imaginary fire. Flames visible only to the soul, a raging scream from Bayren far above. Rusk took a calming breath, and pushing past pain and overwhelming emotion, he took a stand as Pax rushed him with the frenzied black blight of false Calamity.

  Steel Dragon. It won't spoil anything don't worry:

  Threnody of the Depth/END was a single point on my stupid outline. Funny enough, the same thing can be applied to Trepidatio Artificialis and Pale Marrowbrand. Both of those arcs became vastly longer thanks to my “haha wouldn’t this be cool.” For example, the whole thing with Borren and the Parabellum Onryō? That was originally supposed to be two chapters long—and not in a floating coliseum made of Noklktald bones. It was originally by the beach, against a weaker version of Borren, with a crowd of like ten people.The entire sequence with the Cerberus? Originally just a small mission where the Rangers showed Gira some of their work. They were supposed to spend a night protecting careless Servinae from being kidnapped by Caused ghouls…

  Threnody-type arcs. Examples: all of the other Giras. Morray, Xizu, Serfet, Vidrago, Lucas, Deliah (the weird girl we met once so far through Lucas’s POV during the Parabellum Onryō), Siegwick, Vizor, Alia, Sey, and a bunch of others we haven’t even met yet. Now, fortunately—or unfortunately—some of these are guaranteed to happen. I won’t say who or when, but it’ll happen.

  Shattered Alive. I’ll also be updating and fixing typos for Trepidatio Artificialis, Nascent Reverberations, and parts of Pale Marrowbrand. The Re-Shattered version will follow the same general plot, but the first three chapters I’ve rewritten and edited so far have some pretty different things happening in them—so make sure you check that out. You’ll know the rewrite is complete when I upload the first chapter of Steel Dragon Part 2 (it’s Part 2 because all the stuff with Carrion is technically Steel Dragon).

  -L.Osric