Written By: Epicstu Wyyvernwriter

From his throne within his walled city, Drak Mountainhiem smiled. Time neared now, and the three greatest threats to his plans had just fallen right into a trap he had set in motion long ago.

* *

“Dad!” Drifting into the Realm, the car dropped as the road ceased and a plasma beam shot at where it had been.

“Hold!” Sarah commanded her fleet and then she tilted her head and raised her eyebrow. “A car?” She untilted her head. “You can become the materials for and can forge, build, or craft yourself into literally anything you want, and you become a car and a road on which that car can be driven.”

“That is a lot of ships,” Noah gazed upon the countless Avisern fighters, cruisers, and carriers staring back at him from about two planets away.

“They’re the least of your worries,” Nid warned. “Do not underestimate that Fennec.”

“That Fennec is currently between us and Drak,” Maggie rebutted. “We have to try.”

“Sarah Iron is a cruel and ruthless warrior,” fear was written all over Nid’s face. “She will slaughter us barehanded if we aren’t careful.”

“Then let’s be careful,” Noah revved the engines. “Ready Stu?”

“Just follow the road,” the Nekolich’s tires burned out on the asphalt as Noah slammed on the gas and the road paved itself before him.

“Fire at will,” Sarah ordered and plasma filled the empty soundless void of space. A silent explosion lit up the solar system, “Hold!” Sarah smiled, then she noticed they were still coming. “Didn’t we hit them?”

“We hit something, but it wasn’t the car?” replied an officer.

Sarah’s ear twitched. “Hi,” the Nekolich said with a smile from behind her. Suddenly Avisern vessels began exploding left and right as the car kept coming toward them. “Yeah, that’s me.” Growling, Sarah turned and pounced on the Nekolich. Ripping his skull out with his spine, she used it against the resulting resurrections as she brutally carved a path through the him.

The road serpentined, twisted, dipped and dove through the plasma fire as the Nekolich’s ever growing body count took most of the fire, each one falling only to duplicate and rise again. Reaching the front, Noah drove through the web of Avisern carriers as fighters poured out of them in troves. Narrowly avoiding vaporization, Noah drifted through a cruiser from one end of the docking bay out the other as it was blown up by its allies. Power sliding into the atmosphere, Noah kept following the road as it spiraled, gradually, down to the cube shaped world below. Fighters, accompanied by heavy fire from the cruisers above followed them down as a swarm gunships came up at them from the planet’s surface. A shield of Nekolich corpses surrounding them, Noah did not flinch. He kept on the road, trusting that the Wyyvern would get them through the blockade. The road had finally settled, flat, upon the planet’s surface when the overwhelming storm of plasma stopped. “Why’d they stop?” asked Maggie.

“Why did we stop?” Noah questioned, holding the gas pedal down as the smell of burning rubber filled the air.

“She caught up,” Nid answered their questions with terror in her tone.

Maggie looked back, “you have to be joking.”

In the rear view mirror, Noah could see her, “alright, take this!” he threw it into reverse, but the wheels spun over the asphalt just as they had before and the car would not move. With one hand driving six-inch retractable claws into the car’s rear Sarah Iron stood, unphased by the vehicle’s feeble attempts to move her, holding the car in place. “Really?”

“Really,” Sarah answered. Shifting out of reverse, Noah slammed on the gas one last time and the car broke free. “Don’t shoot,” she crushed the broken off chunk of Wyyvern in her hand, “they’re mine.”

“Haha!” Noah cheered at his victory. “We lost her,” then a thud dented the roof.

“No we didn’t,” replied Maggie as the roof was torn off in a single motion.

“Just go, I got this” shouted Nid.

“Nid no!” Maggie pleaded for her mentor and friend not to sacrifice herself, but Nid had already tackled Sarah and the two were tumbling down the road behind them.

Nid watched Noah and Maggie drive off as she struggled to return to her feet. Sarah grabbed her by the throat and held her at eye level, “keep after them,” she ordered into her comlink. “Make sure neither of them reach, Mountainhiem alive,” then she smiled at Nid, “I’ll exterminate this pest.”

Pulling her dagger from her sleeve, Nid slashed at Sarah’s chest, but Sarah threw her before the blade could reach its mark. “Not if I exterminate you first,” Nid rolled as she hit the ground and readied herself.

Sarah drew her offhand shortsword and gestured Nid toward her with her empty right hand, “come on then.” A clash of sharpened steel ensued as Nid tried desperately to find an opening with which to inject her dagger’s poison from its edge, but to now avail. Back-flipping away, Nid shot a grapple bolt at Sarah’s sword, tethering her offhand to the ground, before rushing, blade first, back in. Sarah caught the blade with her right hands claws as they flung forward, disarming her. Pinning Nid to the ground with her foot, “insect,” Sarah let go of her sword, freeing her offhand from the tether.

“Technically, I’m an arachnid,” Nid pulled the line that tethered her dagger to the wrist of her right hand. Sarah jumped back, narrowly avoiding the blade’s edge, as Nid rolled back to her feet and threw the dagger at Sarah with one swift motion.

Catching the dagger, “got your stinger, scorpion, ” Sarah dropped the dagger and took its tether leaving enough slack for the weapon to remain on the ground. “Got your web, spider,” she began slowly pulling Nid toward her. “What will you do now, arachnid?” She reached out to grab Nid’s throat.

Nid leaped over Sarah, wrapping the tether around them both as she landed behind her, grabbed the dagger, and put her back to her’s. “Take you with me,” pulling the tether taught, she stabbed herself through the chest. Sarah looked down at the dagger’s tip protruding from her chest and began to feel a tingling sensation. The two melted together leaving behind nothing but their blades.

*          *

“A shame,” Drak sighed. “I had hoped we would rule this Multiverse side by side. Alas. you served your purpose,” then the alarms began to blare.

“My Lord, they’ve breached the front gate!” shouted a guard and Drak smiled.

“Go and get them then,” he replied from his throne.

“Lock this place down!” the guard ordered his men. “We cannot allow them to reach Mountainhiem.” Drak could not help but chuckle at his loyal Fennecs’ concern. In his mind, he knew how this would end.