Somebody Stop Them. Chapters: 18-19

18: Miss Possible

Vespera stared at my flushed, grinning face and then started to laugh, splashing through the water.

“Wha-wha?” Cinder spun in the water, staring between me and the crackling Thunderbird.

“Change yourself and Ci back into humans now,” I commented. “Preferably before Ci realises what just happened and tries to murder me with her sharp chompers.”

"What. Just. Happened?" Cinder demanded, eyes narrowing dangerously as Vespera grabbed onto her and rearranged both of their faces back to human appearance. "Why am I murdering you now?!" She splashed water at me.

"I may have just caused a minor citywide panic," I said cheerfully, wiping the fountain water from my face.

"A MINOR PANIC?" Cinder's feathers flared through a hurricane of colors - shocked reds, angry oranges, disbelieving yellows. "YOU DROPPED A..."

"Shhh," I put my finger to her human lips. "I didn't drop nothing. It fell on its own. Maybe. I wasn't there, you can't blame me for Shandrian incompetence in the Mage Tower building."

Cinder's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I can absolutely blame you."

"I'm a blameless, innocent fox," I grinned. "I didn't do nothin'. I'll confess only under threat of kisses. Maybe. Vee, put my fox face back on."

Vespera nodded. With some targeted Quetzi-wing magic controlled by Thunderbird neuron-modding, my human face melted back into the foxy disguise, complete with twitching ears.

"There," Vee chorted. "Maximum foxy deniability achieved. Ke ke ke."

"What were those explosions?" Cinder hissed.

"Citywide urban renewal project," I grinned. "Very progressive. Tearing down some old buildings per handshake-enforced request of the Sovereign of Shandria!"

Cinder's human eye twitched.

"I'm going to strangle you," she threatened.

"Love you too," I grinned, booping her nose.

A loud noise erupted across the city from the direction of the destroyed Bank. The sound was so intense that nearby glass windows wobbled in their frames and shattered. The water in the fountain rippled. It sounded unnatural, wrong, alien, like a million violin strings scraping against a million chalkboards.

I dove out of the water, looking up.

"What? What is that?" The Executioner-Bard choked on the stage, looking at the destroyed Arx Bank.

"Wait, I know that sound," Emerald stood up. "That's a Corpse Seeker! The Omnid chapel finally sent one! Thank the Abyss!”

"Secure the prisoners!" Agrikolish yelled. "That sounds like a big necroflesh beast... damnation! Activate the magic-nullifying obelisks! Ready to repel the creature!”

The magic-nullifying obelisks hummed to life around the execution platform, their obsidian surfaces creating a dark, oppressive field that seemed to swallow all magical energy around the stage.

"Guide it underground," I whispered to Vespera. "Through the sewers. Avoid detection."

"I can't guide it anywhere," she said. "It's coming to me in a straight line. Through everything in its way. Directly from where it started from. After it gets close to me, then I can take physical, full control of the damn thing."

"Umm," I said. "Right. When it gets here, can you make it pretend to eat and swallow us?"

"Pfff, okay," Vee grinned. "Absolutely. Extra scary nom coming right up."

The ground beneath our feet began to tremble.

Cracks spread across the cobblestone square like spider webs. Dust and small stones started jumping with each approaching vibration.

"By her Shadow," the Executioner-Bard cried out. "Hold position!"

Something massive was moving underground, digging with an unnerving intensity, making the same horrid sound like a thousand drills spinning in unison.

Something massive erupted from the ground directly beside our fountain hiding spot with a sound that didn't quite sound like an animal roar.

A colossal, burning-hot drill surged upward, molten rock cascading off its twirling titanium-obsidian-red segments like liquid fire. Each rotation sent waves of superheated stone spraying in all directions, creating a hellish corona of crimson and orange around its massive form.

The drill thing reminded me of pictures of subway tunnel drills and was easily more than three meters wide. Then the thing's legs followed out of the hole. It really looked like a gargantuan Kitlix, liquid crystal body and all.

The drill's surface burned red-hot, pulsing with an inner light that made the surrounding air warp.

Crystalline legs - far too many to count, each looking like blood-red razor-sharp appendages - emerged from the ground.

Then the thing's crystalline drill unfurled like a massive mouth and swallowed us along with half of the fountain.

The heat was intense, but strangely, I wasn't burning. Instead, I felt a bizarre sense of protection, as if I was submerged in the womb. The darkness lit up with flashes of electrical current. Vee appeared in the gloom, floating in what looked like liquid crystal, fully looking like her Thunderbird self.

She floated towards me and embraced me. 

[This is freaking amazing.] Her static-filled voice sang in my head. [Damn. So much better than our little private Seeker! This thing’s a genuine war machine, a tank meant for invading hostile, halfway-terraformed planets!]

I tried to speak, but my throat was engulfed in liquid crystals.

[Hang on,] Vespera crackled. [Going to make a bubble for us to exist in.]

The liquid crystal around us seemed to part, creating a small bubble of breathable space. I could now see Cinder floating nearby, her feathers shifting through startled blues and grays.

"Let there be gravity!" Vespera announced and Cinder and I suddenly landed onto the base of the bubble. "Let there be... light!"

Soft, ethereal light bloomed around us, revealing the crystalline interior of what was clearly a massive, living machine. Organic-looking circuitry glowed with blood-red energy, while intricate crystalline organs pulsed with an almost biological rhythm.

"Holy shit," I breathed.

Vespera's hands were buried halfway within the crystalline bubble, sending out electric currents across the crystalline-flesh-beast.

"Corpse Seeker 77-84-1. Officially the most badass piece of Omnid tech I've ever seen. School and Zalimar must have paid handsomely for this bad girl!" Vee added.

Cinder blinked at the pulsing organs. "This... this is what the Chapel uses to retrieve students from dungeons?"

"Ye. Retrieve, protect, resurrect," Vespera nodded. "Obliterate everything in the way. Let's see where we are."

The bubble around us shimmered, becoming covered with a million pixels like a TV screen going through channels. The static rearranged itself into a view of the devastated central square.

The view showed total chaos.

The Executioner-Bard stood frozen, mouth agape. Where the fountain once stood, there was now a massive crystalline drill hole, steam and molten rock billowing around its edges.

"Let there be... sound!" Vespera declared.

The bubble around us filled with the sounds of the square - panicked screams, the crackling of distant explosions, confused shouts and orders from guards.

"By her Shadow!" the Executioner-Bard screamed. "THE NECROMANCER'S BEAST HAS EATEN THOSE POOR GIRLS!"

"That's not a N-n-necromage construct," one of the older Officers cried. "I've faced zombie-flesh beasts twenty years ago during the Kells uprising. I've never seen anything like this thing. That's some sort of crystal, not dead flesh!"

"Target it with the nullifiers!" The guard captain shouted at the gawking mages. “Focus the obelisks in a beam!”

"Yeah, I don't think so," Vee grinned, sending current across the Omnid tank.

Gargantuan crystal claws grabbed pieces of the destroyed fountain and began hurling it at the obelisks.

The rocks flew at supersonic speed, making deafening booms as they cut through the air, obliterating and shattering the obelisks. Each impact created a shockwave that sent guards tumbling backward, their armor cracking and helmets flying off.

The obsidian magic-nullifying structures - meant to suppress powerful magical entities, not flying rocks - disintegrated like glass hit by a sledgehammer. Fragments scattered across the square, some turning to dust, others embedding themselves in nearby buildings.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" the guard captain screamed, his voice cracking with terror.

"Ke ke ke," Vespera laughed. "Very possible. Let there be… comfort!”

"We should name her," I said, watching the crystalline beast continue its rampage against the defences of the stage, flying rocks obliterating defensive hexagrams.

"Name what?" Cinder asked with wide eyes, clinging to me as a crystalline-organic seat suddenly formed beneath us.

"The Corpse Seeker," I explained. "Every good murder tank needs a name."

Vespera tilted her head. "Ye?"

"Miss Possible," I suggested.

Cinder stared at me. "You're naming a multi-million O-bux apocalyptic murder machine like it's a pet?"

"Pffff, you funny," Vee chortled. "Okay. Miss Possible it is. Hold on going to bring up her stats too."

The bubble lit up with various diagnostic metrics.

[Miss Possible:]

[Core temperature: 58%]

[Energy level: 67%]

[Structural Integrity: 82%]

[Dimensional Stability: 98%]

Vespera clicked her beak. "Not bad for an old girl. Looks like she's running at about 79.68% optimal capacity. Hasn't been in use for a while, my poor baby. Time to take Miss Possible for a spin!"

She grinned dangerously and then the view around us flashed. 

Suddenly, the Corpse seeker was on the stage and the guards were flying through the air, the air around us exploding in a blastwave. Crystalline claws obliterated the magisteel cages and then Emerald, Quint and Solace were inside of the beast along with us.

Another flash and the view changed again, the Corpse Seeker running across the streets, leaving more devastation in its wake.

[Core temperature: 62%]

[Energy level: 65%]

[Structural Integrity: 81%]

[Dimensional Stability: 97%]

"Holding steady!" Vee commented. "What are your orders, Quartermaster?"

"Put our sixies on ice," I said, glancing at the three no-longer-caged Omnids. "Knock em out, I don't wanna deal with them right now."

"Can do," the Thunderbird clicked. Lightning flashed into the heads of the figures floating within the crystalline strata and their eyes closed.

"Now," I said. "I bet that the Arx Bank that the tower fell on has lots of… unguarded stuff."

"Free stuff," Vee agreed. "Onwards, Possible!"

Another flash, the windows behind us exploding from the shockwave as the Corpse Seeker went from zero to 200 km/h.

Then, Miss Possible's crystalline drill slammed into the rubble of the destroyed Arx Bank, her multiple razor-sharp legs digging through layers of concrete, steel, and destroyed wards. Where a normal machine would struggle, she moved with an almost organic fluidity, her drill-mouth spinning and grinding through the debris like a living creature hunting for treasure.

Electromagnetic pulses radiated from her core, as we plowed into half-buried rooms causing magic objects to literally leap toward her crystalline body. Gold bars began floating through the air, drawn into her internal chambers. Stacks of documents - some mundane, some marked with complex magical seals - were sucked in, becoming suspended within.

"Jackpot," Vee grinned, glancing at the captured documents. "Bank transfer records. Client lists. Dimensional gate contracts. Zalimar's entire network might be amongst these."

I nodded.

The Corpse Seeker melted into the vault next. 

A hundred crystal claws pulverized magic seals, tearing apart lockboxes. Rushing across the wall of destroyed compartments, it sucked everything into itself: more coins, beast cores, paperwork of all sorts.

Another line appeared on the round wall screen

[Storage capacity: 89%]

"Blah. Getting full," Vespera reported.

"Purge any small coins," I ordered. "Focus on the expensive loot."

"On it!" Vespera clicked, sending electrical currents through Miss Possible's crystalline structure. Small copper and silver coins began raining out of the Corpse Seeker's body onto the vault floor, creating a chaotic shower of currency.

[Storage capacity: 62%]

Claws extended, the 'Gold Seeker' buried itself into the next vault, magisteel walls melting like butter under the massive drill.

[Storage capacity: 77%]

"Yarr, matey! Acquire the doubloons!" I hugged Vespera.

"Aye-aye, M' Quartermaster!" She rubbed her head against my side. "Ship Possible shall ravage the S.S. Arx Bank for its booty!"

Cinder buried her Quetzi face in her hands, blushing with orange, red and pink shimmers. "I can't believe you two."

"What?" I asked innocently. "We're just performing a completely legitimate maritime salvage operation."

"Ughh," Cinder let out. "This was your plan all along wasn't it?"

"To get my hands on the Omnid Corpse Seeker?" I finished. "Yes. It was. Always wanted one of these.”

"What, we ain't returning her to Vassily?" Vespera asked.

"Hell no," I said. "I ain't giving up our murdertank baby to anyone!"

"You can't just... STEAL a magical tank!" Cinder sputtered, her feathers exploding through a hurricane of disbelieving colors.

"Liberating her," I said. "For our Clan's glory.”

"She won't run very long if we keep plowing through magisteel-reinforced walls," Vespera commented.

I glanced at the stats.

[Miss Possible:]

[Core temperature: 85%]

[Energy level: 45%]

[Structural Integrity: 61%]

[Dimensional Stability: 77%]

[Storage capacity: 96%]

"Energy's getting low," I said. "Can she run on the beast cores we just stole?"

"Aye, aye, Lord Protector!" Vee clicked. "Injecting beast cores into the dragonheart manifold... now! Venting core heat!"

The crystalline tank vibrated as beast cores began dissolving into its internal systems, creating a symphony of magical energy that made the air around us shimmer and pulse.

"Wheeeeeee!" Vespera whalloped, her talons dancing inside the liquid crystal surface. "WHO'S A GOOD MURDER TANK? YOU ARE! YES YOU ARE!"

Cinder facepalmed so hard I thought she might actually create a small singularity of embarrassment.

The air around Miss Possible ignited as the Corpse Seeker released heat, the bank vault walls melting around us from superheated air.

[Miss Possible:]

[Core temperature: 42%]

[Energy level: 100%]

[Structural Integrity: 50%]

[Dimensional Stability: 76%]

[Storage capacity: 92%]

"Can we take on another Bank?" I asked.

"Ehhhh," Vee said. "Don't think so. The crystalline strata might start coming apart. She’ll need a break to regrow the outer layers."

"Fine," I said. "Let's suck up more stuff till storage is 100% full, then head home."

"On it."

"Home? To Earth?" Cinder let out.

"No, you knob," I said. "To our Guild. If we take Miss Possible back to the Omnid Chapel, Keeper Vassili will obviously reclaim her. He has near absolute power in his domain. Why would I go through the trouble of making Shandria look like it's being invaded, just to give up our precious Omnid tank?”

“So where?”

“We're going to our crystal tower in Undertown." I answered.

"Home sweet citadel!" Vespera clicked, sending electrical sparks dancing across Miss Possible's crystalline interior. "Shall we take the scenic route?"

"Absolutely," I agreed. "Let's avoid destroying the choke point and making it too obvious that we own this lovely beast. Go out of Shandria through the sewers, then out of the city towards the fields. We can stop at a farm and get some groceries for our gang.”

“Groceries?” Cinder sputtered. “In an Omnid tank?”

“What?” I asked. “You’ve never taken a stolen tank to buy some milk n’ apples?”

Cinder stared at me with a look of judgement.

The crystalline drill of Miss Possible ignited, carving through the Bank's wall we began burrowing down and then into the sewers, leaving a perfectly smooth, glass-like tunnel in its wake.

We rushed along the sewer at a respectable speed of a freight train moving at about 90 kilometers an hour.

"So," Cinder asked after a few minutes of silence, "exactly how much did we just steal?"

"I dunno," Vee shrugged. "I'm not an accountant. My mind is melting just running Possible. Judging by the gold alone, that's like 80 million O-bux right there. Plz no distract driver birb, only pet."

I leaned forward and began petting Vespera's feathered head. "Good First Mate birb."

"Mmm," she purred, leaning into my touch. Electrical sparks danced across her feathers, zapping me gently.

Cinder rolled her eyes.

The crystalline walls of Miss Possible shifted slightly, creating even more comfortable seating for our trio. The sewer tunnels rushed past, occasionally lit by strange bioluminescent fungi and scurrying underground creatures.

"Ci. Pet the birb," I encouraged.

Cinder sighed, reaching out and awkwardly patting Vespera's head. Tiny electrical sparks jumped between Vee and Cinder's hand.

"Yesssss," Vespera purred. "More pets and compliments."

"Best birb," I said. "Are you pleased with your gift?"

“Mmm. What gift?" She purred.

"Miss Possible," I said. "Figure Thunda-birb girls like shiny things, so I stole the shiniest possible thing for ya."

"We really keeping her?" She asked.

"Really," I said. "She's yours. We're going to bring her to Earth with us."

"Lexyyyyy," Vespera's eyes turned into thin slits, sparks dancing at the edges. "You really know how to treat a girl. Damn it. You making me cry, you cheeky fox."

"The biggest diamond-beastie I could find in the universe. An engagement tank!” I laughed.

Cinder's feathers ignited red-green-pink.

"An ENGAGEMENT TANK?!" she squawked. "That's not how proposals work!"

"Eh," I grinned. "Nothing says 'I love you' like a multi-million O-bux crystalline murder machine capable of drilling through everything in its way."

Miss Possible slowed. Vespera pulled her hands out of the crystalline walls and grabbed Cinder’s wings. Her face rapidly rearranged itself into an elongated fusion of Thunderbird and human and then she turned my way and attacked.

She practically buried me in a flurry of kisses and electrical sparks. Her talons wrapped around me possessively, tiny arcs of lightning dancing between us.

[Mine mine mine,] her thoughts sang. [Love. Love. Love. Forever. Mine]

"M... mine," her lips whispered out loud as she stared at my eyes. "I..."

"Yes?" I smiled.

"I love you," she mewled, nomming my entire face with her entire elongated mouth.

"Nu-huh," I teased. "It is I who loves my birb."

Cinder rolled her eyes but hugged me from the right side, occasionally catching her own kisses in between Vee.

"Uh? Who's driving Possible?" I asked, glancing at the retreating tunnels.

"Me," Vee said, panting and blushing with raining sparks. "With my feet."

I noticed that her clawed feet were indeed buried within the liquid-crystal floor sending electrical currents into the depths of the Corpse Seeker.

The crystal tank pulverised another sewer wall, and breached into a cavern and then plowed through solid rock for about ten minutes and then went up, breaking out of the ground into brilliant sunshine.

19: Brooding Farm

Afternoon sunlight shone, the trees swayed in the breeze, yellow fields of wheat and violet fields of lavender danced with gold and violet waves. Chuppies fluttered from tree to tree, eating bugs. 

Farmer Larry Gootali sat on his creaky, pure white Moonwood porch, sipping afternoon tea with his wife Nilli. Their farmhouse overlooked their numerous fields and orchards, a picture of pastoral tranquility in the Shandrian countryside.

"The Seerscope's been acting strange all morning," Nilli commented, her elk ears twitching nervously as she adjusted her apron. "Arrow's been spinning like mad, pointing towards… certain doom."

“Yeh. Thought that we had a year to sell the farm,” Larry nodded gravely, his weathered hands wrapped around his teacup. "Haven't seen it this agitated since the Kells Uprising. Something's definitely—"

His words cut off as the ground began to tremble.

His teacup shattered against the porch boards as a massive crystalline form erupted from the ground like some ancient horror awakening from millennia of slumber. 

Blood-red crystal segments glinted in the afternoon sun as the mechanical beast carved through the wheat field, throwing superheated, molten rocks all over.

"By her Shadow!" Nilli screamed, blonde hair flying, green antlers shaking, green eyes wide. "What is that monstrosity?!"

Larry watched in mute shock as a few of his prized springapple trees - passed down through three generations - were reduced to splinters in seconds as the beast plowed a straight line across several wards and stopped.

The crystalline horror slowed at the edge of his lavender field. Its drill-head rotated, seeming to taste the air. For a moment, Larry could have sworn he saw figures moving within its translucent body - but that had to be a trick of the light. 

Nothing living could survive inside that thing... could it? Maybe this thing... This dragon-sized Kitlix abomination ate someone already.

"Sorry!" A female voice suddenly called out from the crystalline beast. "Got distracted making out and sort of demolished your tree-orchard."

"Don't kiss n' drive," A male commented.

"Ye, ye, Mr. Fox," the female voice sighed. "How about a break for this poor birb? Driving Possy is hekkin’ mentally draining. This place seems chill."

Larry glanced at the Seerscope on the wall. The arrow was pointing straight at the word "Catastrophe". He swallowed.

The crystalline, eye-less abomination slowly rotated and started moving towards their farmhouse and then finally settled onto Larry's wheat field, its massive form creating ripples in the golden stalks. Steam rose from its drill as the surface cooled, creating a shimmering haze in the afternoon light.

Slits opened between crystalline folds releasing superheated steam into the air.

A section of the crystal beast's side suddenly liquefied, forming what looked like a door. Three figures emerged - a foxkin teen in a fancy black leather jacket, and two fox girls in a red and a black dresses.

"Why are we foxes?" The rainbow-haired foxgirl hissed.

"Why not?" the black and white haired foxgirl shrugged. "I want to try on every Arx xenotype."

"Ughhhh," the rainbow-haired fox let out. "Why can't I just be a Quetzi?"

"Just tryin' ta' get outta your mold, Cinderella," The black and white fox declared with a grin. "You're so square and crusty, ya kno? Lighten up!”

"I'm not crusty!" the rainbow-haired fox protested. "I just prefer to be myself!"

"Hi there!" the orange foxkin in the leather jacket called out cheerfully to Larry and Nilli. "Sorry about your trees. Would you accept payment in gold for the damages?"

Larry and Nilli exchanged bewildered looks.

"We just need to rest our tank for a bit," the black and white fox explained. "She's overheating."

"Tank?" Nilli squeaked.

"Miss Possible needs a break," the ginger, brown-green eyed foxman nodded at the crystalline beast. "Running hot after some… urban renewal work in the city."

Steam continued to rise from the massive crystalline... tank-beast as it cooled in the afternoon air. The crystalline structure pulsed with an inner light, creating dancing reflections and rainbows cast across the wheat field.

"Would you lovely farmers know a good place to eat round these parts?" The foxkin male asked, shaking a gold purse.

Nilli found her voice first. "Oh! You must be mages from afar! We do offer home cooked meals at our farm for adventurer guests."

"Perfect!" The foxkin teen grinned. "Name your price for food and damages. We'll happily compensate you for any inconvenience and pay for parking."

Larry and Nilli exchanged another look.

"Nil," Larry hissed at his wife. "We can't take em, the Seerscope is..."

"Maybe if we deny them hospitality they'll kill us, idiot husband," Nilli fired back. "They have a crystal dragon, the likes of which I have never seen. I can't even sense that thing's level and it went through the wardstone palisade like it was made from paper."

Larry paled, swallowing.

"Come in, come in!" Nilli declared with forced cheerfulness, ushering the strange trio onto her white porch. "I'll put on some tea and whip up a proper meal."

The foxkin teen bowed gracefully. "Much appreciated. I'm Lex, and these are my companions, Lady Voltara and Lady Castabriella."

The black-haired fox curtsied dramatically while the rainbow-haired one just nodded awkwardly.

Larry watched as his elkin wife practically flew into the house, her white tail fluffed with nervous energy. He could hear pots and pans clattering as she presumably started preparing their best dishes.

"So," Larry said carefully, studying the crystalline monstrosity cooling in his wheat field. "You folks... um... are from… where?"

"Just passing through," Lex smiled. "Had some business in the city. Now heading home."

A distant explosion echoed from the direction of Shandria. Black smoke rose above the city walls.

"Ah," Larry nodded sagely, deciding he really didn't want to know. "Business."

"Yep," Lex grinned, pulling out a heavy pouch. "Now, about those trees..."

"Oh, don't worry about those," Larry said quickly. "They were... old anyway. Ready to come down. We're selling the farm anyway."

"You are?" Lex asked. "Why?"

"Retiring," Larry said too quickly, ears twitching nervously. "Moving to the Capital. My sister has a place there."

"You look much too young to retire," Lex smiled.

"Well," Larry exhaled, glancing at the crystal dragon tank thing, terrified that the fox trio were mighty wizards who could sense lies. "To be completely honest, we're concerned about a possible invasion or a revolution. Foresight magic suggests something big is going down in a year. Plus, there’s… news from the city cast via Nuntix about a Necromancer taking down a mage tower. Last time Shandria caught fire during the Kells rebellion and we barely made it out alive.”

"So, how much are you selling this lovely farm for?" Lex asked.

"Two celesteel cards," Larry said.

Lex fished in his pocket and threw three celesteel cards on the table. "Here you."

Larry's mouth fell open. The foxkin’s jacket pockets looked like they were bursting with ceesteel cards. He’s never seen a mage so wealthy.

"I... what?" Larry stared at the small fortune on his table. Each card radiated magic like a beating heart and the boy just casually gave them out!

"Three celesteel cards," Lex repeated. "For your farm. Consider the extra one as payment for lunch and friendship. Vee, do we have deed transfers from the Bank?"

"Ye," Lady Voltara nodded. "Totes do. Gonna grab some from Possy.”

"Why are we buying a farm?" Lady Castabriella demanded.

"I dunno," Lex shrugged. "Since I died on Tuesday, I wanted to buy you a farm with a nice gothic house and an apple orchard where you can brood and raise crows."

"You what?" the rainbow-haired fox asked. "Wait. Are you referring to that stupid joke you made a week ago about me being your goth GF?"

"Maybe," Lex shrugged. "You're not dressed like a goth now, but like... I still want to get you something nice. I got Vee a tank. You like this place, right?"

.   _ .

"I..." Cinder's fox ears twitched. "You can't just... buy me a farm because of a dumb joke!"

"Already did," I grinned, sliding the deed transfer papers brought by Vee across the table to the farmer who introduced himself as Larry. "Sign here please."

Larry's hands shook as he signed, his eyes darting between the celesteel cards and the hissing crystalline tank venting steam.

"Man, Dr. Greyfield's Advanced Xenobiology feels like millennia ago," I stretched. "Doesn't it?"

"It was literally like a week ago," Cinder hissed. "And you're completely changing the subject! You can't just... buy farms on a whim!"

"Already did," I grinned, watching Larry sign the last document. "It's yours now. A lovely gothic farmhouse with an apple orchard, only somewhat plowed by Miss Possible."

"Ughhh, you're freaking impossible," Cinder let out.

"Tell me you hate it and I'll give this lovely farm to Vee instead," I shrugged.

"No!" Cinder blurted out, then immediately covered her mouth with her paws, fox ears flattening against her head.

"Ha!" I pointed at her. "You DO like it! Knew it!"

"I... just..." she sputtered, her rainbow-colored fox tail swishing in agitation. "That's not the point!"

"The point is that I bought you a brooding farm," I grinned. "You can tell your parents all about it when we get back home. They'll think I'm a respectable Nazarite boy even more that way. Because who else buys apple farms for their fiancees?"

"I DO NOT BROOD!" she protested. "And we're not engaged!"

"You're brooding right now," Vee commented cheerfully. "And that's a fixable situation."

The elkwoman Nilli emerged from the kitchen with tea and freshly baked scones. Steam curled from the teapot as she set it down.

"The home-made stew will be ready shortly," she said, her elk ears wiggling. "I hope you'll find everything to your liking."

"It smells wonderful," I said, accepting a cup of tea. "Thank you for your hospitality."

Cinder was still fuming beside me, rainbow fox tail swishing in agitation. Vee sat on my other side, practically vibrating with barely contained electrical energy and foxy-merriment.

The farmers furiously whispered to each other and then returned to the living room.

"So," Nilli ventured carefully, "when do you need us to... vacate the property?"

"Oh, take your time," I waved dismissively. "No rush. We're not staying long in Shandria and probably won't be back for a year. I'll have someone from our Guild come over later to take care of the farm, make sure it's in good order. Enjoy your wealth, take your kids on vacation. You two have kids, right?"

"Erm," Nilli blushed. "A daughter. Terri." She pointed at a painting of a blonde girl who looked like a younger version of her. "She's in her 7th year as an apprentice Healer at Shandria’s Healers Hall."

"Wonderful," I smiled, glancing at the farm deed signed by Larry Gootali. “Terri Gootali, right? When you see her next, tell her that her apprenticeship is fully paid for. Consider it a bonus for the excellent tea and hospitality."

Larry choked on his tea. Nilli's eyes went wide. "But... but..." she stammered. "A Healer's apprenticeship costs..."

“An arm and a leg?” I asked.

“Yes. So why would you…?” Nilli asked.

“I’m going to be opening a Bank here and building a new city right next to Shandria. I’m going to need lots of young, talented people–healers, architects, architects, craftsmen, Kitlix breeders, Agromancers, all sorts of mages basically. People who can help build something new. Consider this an investment in the future!"

Nilli and Larry exchanged bewildered looks.

"A new Bank?" Larry asked carefully. "But the Arx Bank..."

Another distant explosion rumbled from the city.

"Won't be a problem," I smiled. "Trust me."

Larry swallowed hard and nodded.

Nilli brought out the stew, which smelled absolutely divine. We ate in relative silence, broken only by occasional compliments about the food and distant sounds of distant thunder from the city.

"Umm," Nilli asked me. "Sir Lex, what is happening in Shandria?"

"Renovation," I said. "Our Adventurers Guild hired over a thousand adventurers to demolish old, abandoned buildings on the land we leased to build new infrastructure."

"How many adventurers?" Larry sputtered.

"Pretty much all of them," I shrugged. "I think? I'm not really sure, our lovely Guildmaster is handling it."

"You own the Adventurers Guild?" Nilli stared at me with wide eyes.

"Not the white cathedral," I said. "We own a competing Adventurers Guild. Still rebranding and renovating it."

"Would you like some more tea?" Nilli asked nervously.

"Please," I smiled. "Your stew is excellent, by the way. Perfect for supper after a morning of hearty urban renewal."

Cinder kicked me under the table. I maintained my pleasant smile.

"So," Larry ventured. "You're building a... city?"

"Two cities actually," I said. "One for non-magic humans and one for the locals."

"Non-magic humans?" the farmer blinked. "What?"

"An interdimensional colony," I said. "Just a little fun project of mine."

"A... colony?" Larry's dog ears twitched nervously while his elk wife simply blinked my way with a lost look. "Here in Shandria?"

"Adjacent to Shandria," I corrected. "In a dungeon."

"In... a dungeon?" The farmers asked together.

"Yep," I nodded. "Found a pretty good dungeon recently and decided to adopt it. You know how it goes."

Another distant explosion echoed from the city.

"More… renovations?" Nilli asked weakly.

"Yep," I shrugged. "Our Guild is quite thorough."

“Yum,” Vee finished her stew and stretched. "This is nice. A chill ‘casion in the countryside!”

Cinder glared at me from her stew. I sent her a pleasant smile.

The farmers excused themselves, heading out to tend to the damage in their fields caused by our arrival. Through the window, we watched as they mounted their Agrilopods - strange, massive beasts that towered over the farm buildings. 

The Agrilopods looked like a fusion of giant crab, daddy longlegs and a siphonophore. I watched as long thread-like tentacles extended out from the creatures, collecting fallen springapple tree branches.

"You know," Cinder said, watching the farmers work. "You didn't have to buy their entire farm."

"Why not?" I asked. "They wanted to sell it. I wanted to buy you a farm. This is how transactions work.”

"I didn't want a bloody farm!" Cinder complained.

"Surprise farm?" I smiled sheepishly as I pulled Lance's anti-crying wardstone from my bag and placed it in the middle of the living room. I shoved another beast core inside it from my pocket full of stolen beast cores from the Arx Bank. "You gotta practice your Hearth-wife-ness somewhere, right?"

"Ughhhh," Cinder phase shifted out of her foxgirl form, burying her face in her wings. “Going to rest for a bit… out of mana.”

Vespera shifted back to her Thunderbird form. She draped herself across both of us on the couch, petting Cinder.

"Hi, Ci," she smiled.

"What?" Cinder looked down.

"Come on, gimme a smile. Look at this place. It's actually pretty nice. Mountain views on the left, the Chasm sea on the other side, close to the city, Shandrian-style farmhouse, apple orchard, wheat fields... perfect for writing romantic songs about the inevitability of death."

"I don't write romantic songs about the inevitability of death!" Cinder protested, her feathers shifting through embarrassed pinks and indignant purples.

"Yet," I grinned. "Give it time. Soon, you'll be out here in your black dress, sitting under a weeping tree, writing verses about the existential despair of being a rainbow dragon engaged to human and Thunderbird disasters."

I took the sweaty fox ears off my head and slowly washed the makeup off my face with a makeup sponge as Cinder growled at me from her seat.

"We're not engaged!" Cinder let out. "And we won't be engaged if you two keep being absolute knobs about everything!"

"But we're your knobs," I grinned, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"Ugh," she pushed me away, but her feathers betrayed her with flashes of pink. "You can't just... fix everything by being cute."

"Can't I?" I asked innocently.

"No!" She declared.

"Come on," I said. "Admit it. You like the farm."

"I... it's... fine," she mumbled.

"Just fine?" I pressed.

"It's... nice, okay?" she admitted reluctantly. "But that's not the point!"

"What's the point?" I asked her. "State your point."

"I don't know what my point is!" She hissed. "You're terrible and this sparkly knobfold is even worse and you two keep dragging me into your excessively insane shenanigans. It's like, I expect one thing and…”

"What'd you expect?"

"I expected a nice date and I expected the Arx Bankers to take Em, Sol and Quint's bracelets back home. I didn't bloody think that you would effing crash a Mage Tower into the Arx Bank just to bamboozle Keeper Vassili into giving Vee control over a fucking Corpse Seeker tank!" Cinder finished, feathers shifting through exasperated colors.

"To be fair," I said, "the Bank demolition plot worked out perfectly. We got a murder tank, saved a trio of Omnids, got new sixies, plenty of loot, and a nice farm out of it. Dungeon delving is too much effort! Much easier to rob a bank, see?”

"This is exactly what I'm talking about!" Cinder growled. "Stop giving Vee murder tanks, she's got like no impulse control!"

"Nooo," Vee whined. "Don't take away my murder tank, I love her. She's my baby! My Lexy got me the bestest engagement tank ever!”

"It's not an engagement tank! It’s the Omnid Chapel’s Corpse Seeker!" Cinder protested. "And you can't just steal a magic tank!"

"Already did," I grinned. "And gifted it to Vee as familiar! What are you going to do about it? Nag me extra hard? Go ahead, Hearth Keeper. I accept my lovely Quetzi nagging."

"I... you... argh!" Cinder flashed all the colors of a sunset.

My Omnid Quartermaster tag vibrated. I accepted the call, glancing at the caller's ID.

"Hi Sovereign," I said. “Sup?”

"Lord Protector," Lady Astra's voice purred from the tag. "Why is my city on fire?"

"It's not on fire," I said. "It only looks like it's on fire, but it's actually perfectly legal renovations happening on the land our Guildmaster leased from the Highborn Lords of Shandria.”

"Really?" Cedez's voice dripped with amusement. "And I suppose that Infix Mage Tower just happened to fall onto the Arx Bank by complete accident?"

"Complete accident," I nodded. "Terrible construction standards these days. Someone should really look into that."

"Uh-huh," she said. "And the mass panic about a necromantic invasion?"

"People are so quick to jump to conclusions," I sighed dramatically. "One little tower falls, some renovation happens and suddenly everyone thinks it's the end of the world."

"Right," she sighed. "What happened to the Glacix Kitlix?"

"I bought them," I said.

"ALL of them?!" Cedez demanded.

"Yes," I said. "I happen to own lots of land in Undertown and if you forgot it's currently infested with Duskbloom."

"Are you running some kind of a Kitlix pyramid scheme?" She demanded.

"It's not a scheme," I said. "It's a legitimate Glacix Kitlix rental business with legitimate stock options available to all wealthy mages interested in protecting themselves from future Duskbloom incidents. We also sell insurance against necromantic invasions."

"I see," Cedez's voice danced between mild amusement and exasperation. "And I suppose the massive, indestructible crystalline beast that just turned most of central square and several streets has nothing to do with you either?"

"Miss Possible is just out for a stroll," I said. "I took her out for a walk.”

"Miss... Possible?" Cedez repeated slowly.

"She's very friendly," I assured her. "Just needs some exercise after being cooped up in a damp underground chapel for so long."

"You're lucky that you're such a cutie," Cedez laughed. "Or we'd have serious words."

"I'm just happy to work with such a cute Sovereign," I fired back with the same tone. "Give Remy and Dave big smooches for me."

"Stop flirting with the Sovereign of Shandria," Cinder hiss-growled, her feathers shifting through jealous greens.

"Why? She's adorable," I grinned. "Like a deadly, cute shadow-fox."

"You..." Cinder began, but was interrupted by another explosion, the sound coming from wherever Cedez was.

"Speaking of explosions," Cedez's voice came through the tag, "how many buildings are you planning to 'renovate' today?"

"Just enough to make room for progress," I said. "We shook hands on it. I promised to help you renovate the city. I fulfil all of my promises, Sovereign.”

"You're moving awfully fast," Cedez commented.

"What can I say," I shrugged. "I'm on a deadline."

"Right then," Cedez laughed again. "Carry on. Try to keep collateral damage at a minimum."

"Can do," I smiled and hung up.

"Your relationship with the Sovereign is... concerning," Cinder said, her feathers shifting through suspicious oranges.

"Eh," I shrugged. "I'm just being nice. She's like my interdimensional sister or something, don't be jelly."

Cinder sighed, leaning back on the couch.

. . . 

"Speaking of interdimensional beings," I stretched on the couch. "I've been meaning to ask - what's the deal with Arx inhabitants? Like, is there any fundamental difference between, say, the owlish cafe maid and Vee?"

"Ah, ah!" Vespera rolled off our lap, stretching and bending like a ballet dancer. "I know this one! We went through it in Dr. Greyfield's Advanced Xenobiology last semester!"

"Wasn't here last semester," I nodded. "Please educate me, professor wise birb."

"The main difference," Vespera clicked, sending sparks dancing across her magisteel-clad talons, "is that Arx inhabitants are native to this realm. Their biology is completely adapted to the high aetheric density here. They can't function outside of Arx like us Omnids.”

I nodded.

"Lets begin with the basics," Vespera walked over to Cinder and pawed at her wings.

A transparent human male manifested in front of us in the farm living room, looking somewhat like me.

"Hey!" Cinder whined. "What are you..."

"Shh," Vee commented. "Don't interrupt your instructor-birb, overhead projector girl."

"I'm not a freaking projector!" Cinder growled. I began massaging her shoulders and she calmed down slightly, leaning against me and grumbling under her breath.

"This lecture is for you too, dragon-bae," Vespera pointed out. "Pretty sure you skipped like half of Omnid anatomy classes."

“Whatever,” Cinder crossed her arms.

Vespera walked around the projection of the human.

"Humo Sapiens! Humans come in several types across a multitude of worlds tied to Omnithornia via dimensional gates," she explained. "Base Earth-O1 humans, aka humans from Omnithornia and surrounding nations don't have heart cores, can't use magic and can't level up normally. Their souls are weak. They're incredibly easy to break."

Cinder wrapped her wing around me protectively.

"Humans of Arx are different," Vespera clicked. "They appear similar to humans from Omnithornia, but are internally magically-augmented from birth or from the moment of their summoning. They have heart-cores which grow with time, aligning them to a VERY specific magic skill."

Vee grabbed Cinder.

A brilliant sphere manifested inside of the projection of a human male. Then, the projection began to age, the core inside them growing bigger and bigger, until the human turned into a bloated, fat, grotesque figure.

"When Arx-Humans reach one hundred years of age," Vespera clicked. "Their heart core becomes so big that they can barely move. It occupies most of their stomachs. Unless the human is constantly healed by mages, they gradually go insane and die in horrible agony as their stomach busts."

I winced as the human exploded and only the massive heartcore remained.

"The core remains after death," Vespera said. "and it forms a dungeon, unless it's ground into dust and used as fuel for something."

"So that's why dungeons are filled with Sentinels and other creepy things?" I asked.

"Various monsters and beasts are born from the human's dying wishes," Vespera nodded. The projection cast by Cinder’s wings changed to show various dungeon monsters. "The human heart-core becomes the dungeon core, powering and half-assly coordinating everything inside the dungeon to murder everything nearby. Sentinels are Arx inhabitants that die in the dungeon and become infected."

She grabbed Cinder again and a foxgirl appeared next to the dungeon core.

"Arx-kin inhabitants are known as Entrosis Sapiens, low order entropic beings," Vespera narrated. "Basically, they’re humans afflicted, gradually changed by entropic magic. Humans twisted by a particular magical affinity over generations. This affinity can be anything - fox, dragon, metal, wood, shadow, cat, dog, elk, stone, etc. Their heart cores are smaller than human ones and better integrated into their bodies, so they're less prone to insanity, but they still die at one hundred years of age when their heart core gets too big and become a dungeon on Arx.”

"One hundred years old?" I asked. "Seems... specific."

"There are a lot of specific things about Arx," Vespera nodded. "Many Omnid researchers believe that this gigastructure was designed with very specific parameters in mind and that violating these parameters results in the researcher dying horribly."

"Is Arx alive then?" I asked.

"Perhaps," Vee shrugged. She snapped her talons and a human male and foxgirl appeared, reaching out towards each other in a kiss.

"Arx humans can't mix with Arx-kin safely," Vee said. "The magical affinity present in an Arx-kin being gradually kills the human."

"What?" I blinked as a violet stream rushed from the fox into the human and he fell over and died animated X.X appearing on his face.

"Yep," Vespera clicked. "The magic from the Arx-kin gradually poisons the Arx-born human body. Depending on exposure levels the human can die in a month to a few years unless they’re constantly healed. That's why Arx-kin and Highborn human Lords of Shandria generally do not mix."

"Then Lord David…" I began.

"Has a Vitalix Kitlix on him for a reason," Vee nodded. "He's constantly healing himself. Having a Sentinel Shadow-fox and a pathosteel dragon girlfriend is literally killing him."

"That's... Unfortunate," I commented.

"If I were to write a story about David," Vee mused. "I would call it Unlimited Isekai and Other Unfortunate Magic. Humans like him are summoned to Arx in vast numbers and perish even faster, bones ground to build pyramids."

"Pyramids?" I blinked.

"Zalimar took us to the Dragon God Emperor's Citadel 117 on a field trip," Cinder hissed from where she was sitting. "Everything there was built by people... FROM people. It was..."

"Revolting," Vespera finished. "Instructor Zalimar found it amusing, but I still have horrible flashbacks to that place. Bleh."

"Am I going to grow a core that will kill me at one hundred?" I asked.

"I don't know," Vespera sighed. "You're the first human from Omnithornia brought to Arx. There's no precedent. Plus you're incredibly effed in general. You have a four-fold soul, which I've never seen in anyone. Hell, maybe you'll grow four cores! I’m not a doctor!”

Cinder flared with crimson feathers.

"Yes, pupil Cinderella?" Vespera tilted her head. "Do you have a question?"

"Is... Martin going to die at one hundred?" Cinder let out. "Is he going to go insane when his heart core grows too big, turning into that bloated monster thing?!"

"Lexy has a Lazarus bracelet," Vespera pointed out. "If he dies often enough, the Genesis well will optimize his body towards..."

"Towards what?" Cinder demanded.

"I don't know," Vespera let out. "I’m not a Genesis architect. He's the first human with access to an incarnator. The first human claimed by two Omnid girls. There's literally no precedent here, like I said."

Cinder frowned.

"Which brings us to the Omnids," Vespera clicked. She grabbed Cinder for a few seconds and a projection of Cinder and Vespera bloomed beside the human holo of me.

"Omnithis Sapiens," Vespera waved her talons at the hologram. "Little gods. Cryptids as some humans call us. Taller, stronger, faster, more magically potent than all known baseline humanoids. Two females are born for every male, so triangular Prima and Hearth ‘ships are the most common type of family structure.”

I nodded.

“Unlike Arx inhabitants, Omnids are born in areas of relatively low aetheric density. This makes us incredibly capable in terms of magic, sort of like humans born in high altitudes who can run around longer than humans born closer to the sea. Omnid heartcores grow with us, dimensionally adapting to our environment, our skills, our experiences."

The projection of Vespera zoomed into her heart core.

"An Omnid’s Heartcore is the highest known order of Syntropic magic," Vespera clicked. "Fractal Engine hearts, capable of feeding on belief. We define ourselves as theoretically limitless, perfect beings. Aligned to an idea, to belief, can feed on fear, can eat memetics for breakfast, can go anywhere across the omniverse."

"Anywhere?" I asked skeptically.

"Anywhere," Vespera nodded. "An Omnid can survive any world regardless of aetheric density."

"Emerald melted," I pointed out.

"I'm talking about living worlds," Vespera said. "Not corpse worlds. Omnids don't have a hard age limit like Arx inhabitants. Our cores can theoretically grow indefinitely, fold into themselves like a fractal. Some Omnid elders like Zalimar and Keeper Vassily are thousands of years old, and are high level enough that they don't need an Incarnator to keep going. They just don't die, can't be killed, always return. Their Fractal Engine heart core is part of their soul, immutable, no longer physical."

I rubbed my chin. Cinder stared at me.

"You and I, Ci," Vespera said. "We're highest order Syntropic beings, god-adjacent-living ideas in shells of flesh. As divine-tier Omnids who feed on belief, we are going to keep going forever, not going to age for centuries, maybe millenia. Lex won't. Are you ready for this possibility?"

Cinder's feathers shifted through a complex array of colors - blues of uncertainty, pinks of affection, grays of worry.

"Forever is a long time," she whispered.

"Yep," Vespera clicked. "And our 18 year old human disaster is only going to last maybe... 60-80 years? If we're lucky and he doesn't get himself killed doing something stupid?"

"Hey," I protested.

"Shush," both Omnids said simultaneously.

Cinder looked between me and Vee. "Why...?"

"I'm having fun with Lexy," Vee said. "But this fun can't last forever."

"What are you saying, you damned bird?" Cinder growled. "That he's just going to die from old age, while we.... move on?!"

"No," Vespera clicked softly. "I'm saying we have to make our time with Lexy count. Every. Single second, week, month, year. Tick tick tick."

Cinder's feathers shifted through a complex tapestry of emotions, blues rising to be replaced with oranges and pinks, then golds and silvers momentarily drowning in blacks. Then, impossible, alien colors ignited across her feathers, melting my mind.

"I... refuse," Cinder stood up.

"You what?" Vespera tilted her head.

"I refuse to lose him!" Cinder barked. Rainbows ignited across the air around her.

"Humans are... easily devoured by entropy," Vespera shrugged with a nonchalant expression. "Them's the beans, Ci."

"Not this one," Cinder declared, her feathers blazing and melting my thoughts. "Not Martin! Not ever!”

Vespera tilted her head, electrical sparks dancing between her feathers. "And how exactly do you plan to prevent entropy from consuming a human?"

"I'll punch entropy in the face if I have to!" Cinder growled, the air around her bending into rainbows.

"You're goin’ to find entropy and clock it in the head?" Vespera asked playfully.

"Absolutely," Cinder declared. "I'll find a way. I'll break every single rule if I have to. I'll learn every single magic system. I'll crack the code of incarnation. I'll figure out how to keep him alive forever!"

Vespera's wings spread wide, sparkled with electricity, her talons sending tiny arcs dancing across the room. "Well now," she laughed. "Look who's finally taking ownership of her power. Look who's finally standing up and admitting it!"

"I'm not losing him," Cinder repeated, her voice low and dangerous. "Not to time. Not to entropy. Not to anything."

Vespera reached out and hugged Cinder. "That's what I wanted to hear, Ci. I wanted to make sure that you're in all the way here."

"Obviously, I'm bloody in, you effing knob-bird," Cinder growled. "It's just... I'm not some shallow beerch who's just going to constantly fawn over him like he's made of solid gold!"

"Didn't you just promise to fight entropy itself for our little fox?" Vee purred.

"I... that's different!" Cinder sputtered, her feathers shifting through embarrassed pinks. "I'm just saying I won't let him die! He's my... he's my friend!"

"Aww," I grinned. "My rainbow dragon fren' wants to keep me forever."

"I'm not keeping you forever!" Cinder protested, her feathers flashing through embarrassed pinks and defensive oranges. "I just... I don't want you to die in sixty years! There's a difference!"

"Sure there is," Vespera laughed. "Just like there's a difference between 'not engaged' and 'waiting for the right moment to say yes.'"

"STOP THAT!" Cinder squawked. "You two are always pushing me into things! Push, push, push, that's all you do!"

"Yeah," I stretched on the couch. "We're horrible. Always pushing you to admit your feelings, to be yourself, to fight entropy."

"Shut up," Cinder growled, but her feathers betrayed her with flashes of pink.

"Make me," I grinned.

She lunged at me, pinning me to the couch. "You... you..."

"Me?" I asked innocently.

"I hate you," she declared, but her wings wrapped around me protectively. "I hate you both so much. You're both terrible and awful and just don't stop."

"Hey," I protested. "I'm not running anywhere. I'm peacefully inhabiting a couch."

"Not anymore," Cinder growled, lifting me up like a kitten. "You're coming with me."

"Where are we going?" I asked as she carried me towards the farmhouse door.

"To inspect MY farm," she declared. "Since you bought it for me without asking."

"Vee, I'm being kidnapped!" I complained.

"Have fun!" Vespera called after us. "I'll keep Miss Possible company for a bit, make sure the ol' girl doesn't fall apart, then join ya.”

Cinder carried me outside into the afternoon sunlight. The wheat field swayed in the breeze, golden stalks dancing like waves.

The Agrilopods were still at work, their long tentacles carefully gathering fallen branches and debris. Larry and Nilli had retreated to a distant field now.

"It really is a nice farm," I commented as Cinder carried me through the wheat.

"Shut up," she growled.

"The gothic Victorian farmhouse def has potential," I continued. "We could paint it black, add some gargoyles..."

"I said shut up!" She shook me.

"Maybe add a crow's nest on..." I began and then the ground under us gave way as Cinder took off.

I yelped, clinging to her as her rainbow-wings beat.

We soared upward, the farmhouse and fields shrinking beneath us. The sun caught Cinder's feathers, sending prismatic reflections dancing across the air.

"This is payback for buying me a farm without asking, isn't it?" I asked as we climbed higher.

"Maybe," she said, but there was a hint of amusement in her voice. "Are you scared of heights?"

"Maybe," I dug into her harder. "Just a little. More like scared of infinity."

The wind rushed past us as Cinder banked, circling over the property. From this height, I could see the full extent of the farm - the golden wheat fields, the purple lavender patches, the tree orchards and roads between buildings.

"Infinity?" She asked.

I kept my eyes on the ground below.

"Nihilim," I said. "That black hole in the sky. Arx too. The lack of horizon, just an endlessly rising sphere..."

When Cinder banked, I  once again saw the sheer scale of Arx stretching endlessly upward, impossibly vast continents and oceans curving up and up and up.

"Aww is my little human scared of infinite megastructures?" Cinder teased, twirling like a corkscrew spiral.

"Maybe I am, damn it!" I yelped as she spun in circles, making my head spin. "My brain likes finite things!"

"How do you like that, you jerk?" She growled, plowing through clouds, banking, falling and rising. "Get used to it! Take that!"

I buried my face in her feathers, breathing in her familiar ozone and lavender scent, closed my eyes not to stare at the rapidly spinning view.

"Is this supposed to be a lesson?" I asked her. "You’re like a roller coaster. I think I'm going to be dizzy for a week."

"I'm already dizzy with you," she growled. "Everyday! Stop throwing me into insane loops!"

"My loops are just narrative twists!" I whined. "They exist to derail people's expectations! It's how I win against far stronger enemies as a little fox! I'm a ground-based creature! Staaaaph spinning."

"No," Cinder growled. "Just for that I'm going to spin faster."

And she did.