I heard the sounds of revolver chambers being unloaded. She was fighting something, maybe if I was fast enough I could save her. I gritted my fangs as the acrid scent of my arm’s wound graced my nostrils. What was left of it, that was. Damn it, I thought angrily as I raced toward the gunfire.
I had to save her., I wouldn’t fail her as well. I ran as fast as my talons could carry me, readying my thorned whip. The sounds of gunfire suddenly stopped followed by an unearthly scream, and then silence.
I slid to a halt in the entranceway of a stone chamber to see her standing alone in the center. Everything told me to turn and run, but I ignored my own fears. As I stood there, she slowly turned around and I stood petrified at the sight.
She was jerking around in erratic movements, her eyes hollowed out, and beneath the sockets, I could see something staring back. I took a step back as her body swung at me, and I noticed the black tendriled lotus sprouting from her back. I swore under my breath and charged forward as the monstrous carnivorous plant burst through her chest; staring at me, mocking me. It grabbed me with a lightning-fast tentacle and a great gaping maw sprang out of the ground-
Excerpt from the Journal of Unknown Explorers
The teleportation glyph vanished as Ember and Thorax fell to the ground in a heap. Springing up, Ember furiously looked around at her surroundings. She was in a stone room, the stained red, jagged walls bathed in the acrid scent of rusted iron. That’s when she noticed the suit she was wearing; a bioluminescent outfit complete with helmet and heads-up display. On her side, hanging by a chain was a book. She blinked and lifted it up.
It was the same book as before. The journal from before. Curious, she tried to open it, only for it to resist her many attempts, almost as though it was refusing to open, on its own accord. Giving up on it, she decided to take a closer look at her surroundings.
She moved forward only to stumble over Thorax's groaning, shivering form. His chitin was a sickly orange, as he lay there gasping. The moment he tackled her flashed in her mind, but as she stared at him, she felt pity. She stood over him, confused. What happened to him?
No sooner had she thought this, than the book at her side flew up in front of her, opening to reveal a blank bonemeal page; she watched in amazement as blood-stains began to appear forming words on the page:
I stared at Thorax, as he lay there, his breathing terribly labored. I didn’t understand what was going on until it then dawned on me, he wasn’t supposed to be here. This strange sickness resulted from his breaking the rules of this death game.
“Is that me? Death game? What in the- Wait, he broke the rules? What rules?”
Suddenly the book snapped shut and fell to her sides.
She stared at Thorax’s shivering, incapacitated form. She shouted across the open room.
“What rules? What game? ”
Just then the walls around her erupted in a shower of debris.
“Get down you idiot!”
Gilda stood in front of the kitchen sink, furiously scrubbing the last night’s dishes, glancing at the phone on the counter. It lay still, unmoving. Her eye twitched in anger as she raised up and threw the plate at the wall, watching it shatter. She’s late. No text. Turning furiously back to the sink, she scrubbed frantically as thoughts stewed in her mind. No call, I swear if she is cheating on me, I’ll-
Her thoughts were interrupted by a screen appearing before her, causing her to double-take at the scene depicted on it. She watched as Ember sat, with her back to a section of stone, blindly firing a proton assault rifle over it at, what Gilda could only describe as her worst nightmare. What in Tartarus?
Suddenly honking filled the air, causing her to look out the window. All across the road, the rush hour traffic of the Changeling Empire had ground to a halt, as the drivers all seemed entranced by a screen similar to her own. Gilda blinked and slowly turned back to the screen. What was going on?
That’s what Ember was trying to figure out as the world around her exploded. As she was tackled to the ground, she turned to see a small Dragoness with purple spines, swearing under her breath and unloading round after explosive round of incendiary bolts into something, while standing on Ember.
After a moment or so, she hopped down and placed her back against a large chunk of rubble, panting.
“No good, I can’t get at its eye.”
Ember had instinctively scrambled to place her back against the rubble and shouted over the now roaring beast, as a tentacle covered in thorns whipped overhead.
“What’s going on?”
The Dragoness seemingly ignored her, fumbling with a strap on her leg, and withdrawing a small cylinder. Pressing a button on the side, she nodded as it began to transform and unfold, causing Ember’s heart to pound.
“Talk later, shoot now. Ever fired one of these?”
Ember’s eyes widened as she stared at the weapon before her. A Changeling Proton Assault Rifle standard military grade. Reaching for it, Ember watched as the world itself seemed to slow down on an almost cellular level, and the book at her side leaped up, opening in front of her; it’s once more empty pages, slowly bleeding a strange narrative, featuring the current situation.
I found myself staring at the beast, my shots having no effect, as the proton bolts dissipate across the bulbous surface of the monstrous plant. That’s when I realized that the rifle in my claws uses Changeling magic. Something my mom taught me long ago. If I could only change the ammo to one that burns, perhaps I could provide a better distraction for my Dragon friend.
Once more the book snapped shut, leaving a confused Ember as everything returned to full speed. She thought about what the journal had told her and looked down at the rifle in her claws. Burns. Ammo that burns, what did mom say? Inci- no that’s not it. Wait!
Ember’s claws began to glow with her eyes, a bright teal blue crackling light like lightning down her spine. The cartridge in the chamber morphed into incendiary rounds, and she took aim at the beast.
“Chew on this!”
***
Chrysalis stared at the projection as Ember unleashed her latent magical prowess, and the explosive energy of her rounds rocked the cavern, as she pulled the trigger again and again. The corners of Chrysalis’s mouth turned upwards in a smile. That ferocity in combat, that reckless blood wrath. That complete disregard for her own safety in battle, the desire to kill her enemies at any cost. Chrysalis chuckled. Well, she gets that from her father.
Chrysalis paused as memories of Torch grabbing and swinging a 30-hoof tall column against wave after wave of enemies flooded back. We were so young. She grimaced as Ember jumped out of cover. Dragons, no finesse-
As Ember stood there a tendril encased in razor-sharp fangs slammed into her, causing her to fly back against the jagged walls. Before Chrysalis’s eyes, she staggered to her talons as blood dripped down onto the stone floor. -and resilient as all Tartarus. Look at that sloppy, uneven hoofing. She definitely got that stance from her father’s side.
But the Changeling magic she is channeling; changing with ease between the various rounds: incendiary, frost, shock, and even adhesive rounds. One by one the various types exploded against the enraged behemoth as Ember screamed obscenities, taunting her enemy. And just look at that attitude of hers. Well, that? Chrysalis grinned wolfishly with pride. She gets that from me.
***
Smolder’s revolver dropped to her side in shock. What just happened? She stared up at the Dragoness before her. What had been a timid and mostly unsure creature had changed into a berserker upon contact with her rifle.
She watched as Ember was slashed across the chest, ripping her suit and drawing a spray of blood. Still, she refused to back down, shouting out in a wild voice.
“You think that will stop me, you pathetic sack of pus?”
The creature’s undivided attention was on Ember as she released round after round into the fleshy plant. Smolder marveled at the sight as Ember’s arms were slashed, her leg tendons were severed and still, Ember held her ground in front of that strange black object at her talons. What was that?
Leaning forward, Smolder realized it was breathing, but only just. It’s alive. Is she protecting it? Shielding it? A flash of lightning arced throughout the room as Ember screamed a primal scream followed by an explosion of fire. Smolder just stared at her as the rifle-wielding warrior shouted out.
“You’re finished!”
Moments later, Ember’s magenta eyes blazed with a glowing ice-cold shade of teal, her claws glowed brightly as she opened her mouth and a magical surge traveled down her spine. Suddenly a ferocious blast of Envious green fire blasted the creature.
As it exploded into a million pieces, Ember’ staggered, her arms falling to her side, as the rifle fell from her grasp. She swayed unsteadily for a moment and fell forward, finally succumbing to her wounds; crashing to the floor, her breathing slow.
Smolder stared at her as the innards of the beastly plant rained down. She glanced from Ember to the shivering wretched creature next to her. She closed her eyes for a moment, before redrawing her revolver and placing the barrel against the unconscious Ember’s temple.
“Sorry about this, but I'm winning this thing. I can’t have you stopping me.”
With that, she drew back the hammer and placed her claw on the trigger.
"Farewell."