Sneak peek · 9:20am Apr 19th, 2016
Light faded to darkness. Warmth vanished into freezing cold. Clear sky gave way to black snow. The earth below had disappeared, replaced by the gaping maw of an infinite abyss. Into the choking miasma of gunsmoke and combusted aether, Firefly dove.
The darkness itself threatened to smother her. In the grim twilight that remained, a tiny sliver of color caught Firefly’s eye. Hope turned to rage as the flashing light resolved itself into polished gold filigree. The Ironclad was still airborne.
Firefly snarled. Her repeater spat hot aether again, this time from well within effective range. Violet tracers lit the darkness, sending wraith-like shadows skittering across the storm barriers and debris falling from above. Her rounds hit home, the black metal glowing briefly molten orange before self-extinguishing.
The Ironclad retaliated in kind. Its repeater thundered mightily, the massive muzzle flash almost blinding Firefly’s barely-adapted dark vision. It was too close to dodge. Firefly gritted her teeth and braced herself.
CRUNCH.
The ballistic paneling in her vest disintegrated, catching the first bullet and turning a fatal wound into an ugly bruise. Firefly grunted and rolled with the impact. The second round was not so kind. A sharp pain tore at Firefly’s shoulder as the bullet found flesh. The third round screamed through the air by her face, tearing her goggles clean off. The fourth round ripped through her left ear, deafening her and matting her neck with fresh blood.
Before the fifth round could be fired, Firefly lashed out at her foe. She roared in a mixture of pain and anger as bare hooves came into contact with the hot metal of the Ironclad’s gun barrel. The strike was enough to knock him off balance and send the rest of his burst sailing into empty space. The Ironclad attempted to wrest control of his weapon back from Firefly, but she was now too close for him to make proper use of it.
Firefly’s blade shot forward, adamantite blade piercing the armored left lens of the Ironclad’s helm. The griffon screeched in pain as Firefly withdrew her bloodied hoof. Exploiting her opening, Firefly tore into her foe with a flurry of lightning-fast jabs and slashes. Over and over, her blade sparked against armor, the hungry edge seeking new weak points from which to draw blood.
Out of the corner of her eye, Firefly caught movement. Her blade lashed out, the point of it skewering the Ironclad’s wrist clean through, eliciting another unearthly shriek from her victim. The claw went limp and the revolver in its grasp spun away, forever lost to the abyss. Firefly tore her blade from the Ironclad’s arm and wound up a whirling strike against her stricken opponent.
The Ironclad attempted to block with its good arm, but a swift kick to the elbow knocked it away, exposing her target. With one vicious, slicing motion Firefly cleaved through the griffon’s neck with her blade. Shimmering beads of gore burst from the Ironclad’s severed veins, the shining ring glinting ghostly red in the glow of lightning and flame. Though her enemy was surely finished, Firefly followed through, using her wings and tail to alter her axis of attack into a rising vertical strike that jammed her blade under its helmet. The force of impact cleanly separated head from body, sending both spinning wildly into the abyss.
Her foe was dead. But her trial was far from over. Below, the running lights of an aetheric repeater faintly glinted. Powder was still in freefall.
Firefly dove.
I watched Paths of Hate yesterday. I'd never seen it before, but I did a double take because it was so close to the vision I had for this chapter. Obviously, there are no WWII fighter planes, but the desire to win that transcends destruction of your equipment and even your own body is damn close. The chapter alternates between flashbacks/Firefly's storytelling and "right now" conversation. I won't spoil what the conversations are about, but suffice to say it puts serious strain on relationships and gives a glimpse into the kinds of radical changes that Firefly underwent after the pivotal Battle of Valdus.
This certainly is exciting.
I cannot wait for the new chapter.