//------------------------------//
// Chapter 34 - The Lord of Bones 
// Story: The Dusk Guard Saga: Beyond the Borderlands 
// by Viking ZX 
//------------------------------//


Necropolis - The Control Deck


“Now,” Anubis said, lowering his staff as he turned back to the raised control array. “Where was I? Oh, right, the test.” He moved up onto the control ring, his back to the team as he returned to looking at the raised stones. Blade could see what looked like writing and numbers floating above some of the surfaces, information she couldn’t read that apparently pertained to the function of the Necropolis.

It could be a way to disable the city. Assuming they lived through the next five minutes. Or even the next two minutes.

Come on, she thought, her ragged consciousness pushing out against her body. Fight it! It’s just fear! Fake fear! There’s nothing to be scared of!

The rest of her didn’t listen. Her body was frozen, completely paralyzed by sheer, mortal panic; her breath coming in rapid, uncontrollable gasps. She could feel part of her mind lashing out, jerking at the slightest touch of the unexpected, the alien, like a leaf tossed in the wind.

No! She was fighting back. She knew it. It’s fake! It’s Anubis getting inside your head!

Her body recoiled, hunching in on itself slightly and shivering as her thoughts turned to Anubis. He was awe inspiring. Horrible. Terrible. More terrifying than anything she could ever imagine. He had killed Barnabas, and now he was going to kill her. And what would she have died for? Nothing, that was what. Nothing. No one would remember her. And those that did would remember her for all the things she didn’t want to think about, all the things she wanted to fly away from. Like leaving the clan holdings. Or siding against Hunter.

No.

She couldn’t do it. Anubis, that terrible being so casually toying with the controls some distance away from her, he would turn, would strike her down before she even moved, would end her life in the most horrible brutal way imaginable. And then what would be left? She would be—

No. Her unconscious mind paused, quieting slightly as her still-conscious self retaliated. No, that doesn’t make sense. Anubis wouldn’t kill you in some horrible way. Besides, would it matter if he did? You’re a griffon! And if you died here, you’d die paying back a friend, not betraying his trust.

Her claw twitched, and she pushed harder, her senses coming back to her as the feeling of overwhelming terror began to fade. Her breathing began to slow to a more manageable speed, her shaking slowing and her ruff settling.

There’s no reason to be scared, she thought, before correcting herself. No, there’s reason to be scared, but no reason not to do anything. Come on, Blade, he didn’t react when you curled up a moment ago, he’s not going to react now!

She could move her claws, though motion still felt strenuous, like she was fighting herself. Still, it was a step. Her body was against her every step of the way, still paralyzed by a flood of panic and terror so overwhelming it was all she could do to keep her mind focused. Anubis isn’t going to kill you, she thought as she moved her foreleg back, inch by inch toward one of the pouches on her combat harness. And if he does, she admitted, you’re going out on your terms, with your claws at his throat.

She could feel the fear fading, the nameless, awesome terror seeping away as she pushed back against it. It’s just fear, she told herself as she brought her shaking talons up to the top of the pouch, opening it. It’s not real, no matter how real it feels. And you can beat it!

She was doing it. Her claws were shaking less and less with each second, and she could feel the wall of resistance starting to come down. She shifted, pushing herself up just slightly as the fear began to break.

You are Blade, wandering claw, and one day blademaster! she told herself. You will not be beaten by this!

Even if you have to play at its game. Her talons stabbed down, glass clinking against them as she clenched them tight against the potion vial, and she froze, her eyes darting towards Anubis in a panic.

Nothing. The jackal was still preoccupied with his city, moving around the command ring from console to console as he went about what looked like the work of a whole bridge crew. Still, it took a moment for her to pull her eyes away from the immortal, the panic in her chest rising the longer she looked at him.

Focus. She lifted the vial free of her jacket, eyeing the potion inside of it. It was the color of molten butter, though no butter she’d ever encountered had possessed the same inner glow. Nor was it so thick or heavy, like a molasses that didn’t cling to everything it touched.

She slid a trembling talon up the side of the glass, slipping it beneath the metal clasp that held the stopper shut, and then waited, counting. One, two, three, four—now! Her claw snapped upward, flipping the clasp back and uncorking the vial at the same moment as another faint rumble rolled through the city, more fire from the attacking frigates. Her eyes flickered toward Anubis, and she felt a lull in her fear as she saw him still facing away from her. Good, he hadn’t noticed.

Now or never, she thought, lifting the vial to her beak and throwing her head back. The thick, gooey potion was like slime as it slid across her tongue, and she almost gagged as the slippery mess rolled into the back of her throat. It tasted awful, like she was swallowing her own feathers, but she clamped her beak shut and forced it down, grimacing as she felt every step of its journey down her throat.

She waited. Nothing. She still felt the fear, still felt the terror, though it was light enough now that she felt in control of herself again. She was terrified, but she could move.

No, she could more than move, she could beat this. It was just fear. She felt something swell inside her chest, her eyes opening wide as a new sense of purpose flooded through her, pushing back at the fear, overwhelming it. She felt like she could do anything, achieve anything. The fear was still there, she could feel it, but it was like it no longer mattered. She knew she was stronger.

She rose to a crouch, rolling her legs beneath her slowly as to keep her armor from making any noise, and glanced at Frost and Hain, checking to see if either of them had recovered as far as she had.

No luck. She could see from the way their wide, dilated eyes snapped to her with every motion she made that she’d recovered first. Her own resistance at work. Still, there was a hint of familiarity in Frost’s face as Blade took a small, shuffling step towards her, and though the mare’s eyes were bloodshot with tears, she didn’t flinch away.

Come on, Blade said, not daring to speak as she stopped next to Frost. The unicorn flinched slightly as her saddlebags were opened, and Blade carefully withdrew a vial identical to the one she’d just drunk. She saw Frost’s eyes leap to the vial, widening in a panic, and she froze, holding the vial in the air and rotating it until the words “Anti-fear” were directed toward her.

“Oh, come on!”

Blade froze again as Anubis’s shout echoed through the room, her muscles going taunt as she looked in the immortal’s direction, but he was still preoccupied with one of the controls.

“I don’t care if you’re two-thousand years old,” he said, tapping at one of the green numbers. “This is the first time I’ve used you! You can’t be broken already! What kind of damage?” Writing flashed in the air, and he slapped one hand down through them, banishing them. “Never mind. I’ll just reroute power then.”

Sounds like the Frigates are having an effect, she thought, watching to make sure the immortal wasn’t turning back to check on them. Though he doesn’t seem too bothered by it. Then again, a floating city of the size they were on would take some time to take down.

She turned back toward Frost, noticing that the mare had pulled herself forward slightly, towards the vial.

Good, Blade thought as she held it out. You’re fighting it. She could see the clenched teeth, the tightness of the muscles around the mare’s neck as she moved forward, locking her lips around the vial and upending its contents into her mouth. She swallowed, a look of disgust momentarily overpowering the fear on her face and telling Blade that the horrid sensation and flavor she’d tasted had not been for her alone. Then Frost’s eyes widened, her jaw dropping open as a rush of emotion moved across her face—and the glass vial falling for the floor.

Blade caught it in her talons just before it hit the stone, letting out a quiet sigh of relief and placing the vial in Frost’s saddlebags before turning to move towards Hain.

She didn’t need to. He already had his own vial in his claws, and as she watched, he tilted his head back.

A pulse ran through the room, a faint tremble off-beat with the constant drum of fire from the frigates, but perfectly in time with a loud whine from the center of the room as the gigantic, eight-sided crystal brightened.

“Finally!” Anubis’s shout echoed through the room as the crystal pulsed again, once, twice, the floor vibrating with each pulse. Then there was a final, brilliant burst of light combined with a loud whine, and Blade shut her eyes as the world itself seemed to twist around her, and then all was silent.

Silence. It took Blade a moment to catch the significance of it.

The frigates, she thought. They’ve stopped firing. Or they were no longer hitting the Necropolis, one of the two.

“Right,” Anubis said, before muttering something to himself in a language that Blade couldn’t recognize. He stepped over to another part of the ring, tapping at the controls. Blade tensed, readying herself as she glanced at the others. Frost was picking herself up, a determined look on her face, and Hain was shaking his head, the vacant look in his eyes fading.

All right, she thought as she lifted herself to her feet, keeping one eye on the immortal. We attack as one, and if possible try to do some collateral damage to the consoles, keep him from doing anything else. If we’re lucky—

The stone shifted underfoot, rumbling, and Blade flared her wings slightly as the walls began to fall away around them, splitting at the seams to reveal a star-filled sky. Wind whistled onto the command deck as the walls slid down into the superstructure of the Necropolis, and Blade took in a faint sniff, her eyes widening as she tasted … Salt? That can’t be right. We’re in the middle of the— The walls dropped past her, locking in place below the edge of the command deck and giving her a full view of their surroundings, and her beak dropped open.

Ocean. They were surrounded by ocean. She spun, twisting her head as she looked in all directions. Gone was the vast desert, the valley and distant sand dunes, replaced by a flat, almost calm sea, its waves twinkling in the moonlight. The only land she could see was a distant shore directly at her back, maybe a mile or two distant.

Somehow, the Necropolis had moved.

“Well,” Anubis said, and she snapped her eyes back front as the immortal turned. Work first, wonderment later. “Now that that’s worked, time to deal with …” He paused, frowning as his eyes landed on the three of them.

“Well someone’s confident,” he said, stepping forward and lifting his staff. “I was figuring it’d take you another few minutes at least to shake that off, but …” His eyes narrowed, his voice going cold. “It’s not going to be a problem.” The tip of the staff snapped out, and Blade braced herself as a wall of grey mist rolled over her.

Fear. She could feel it, coiling deep within her belly. A veritable storm of it, snapping and growling at anything that came close, raging out against her.

And she was above it. She could feel the fear, the doubt, the uncertainty, all of it coiling deep within her. It was there. But at the same time she could feel herself, her own accomplishments, and capabilities. The fear was there, but she knew it didn’t matter. She could feel her own sense of will pushing back at it, urging her to remember herself, realize that the fear didn’t matter, that she was stronger than it, better than it. To have faith in herself. In her team.

The mist rolled past her, billowing out into the open air behind her, beyond the edge of the command deck, and fading, but she still stood. She lifted her head, squaring her shoulders as she looked Anubis in the eyes.

“You sure about that?” she asked as Anubis’s eyes widened. She dropped into a crouch, reaching for her sword and spreading her wings just wide enough that she’d be able to move. Beside her she could see Hain and Frost readying their own weapons—Frost lifting her bow, Hain reaching for his knife. “Where are we?”

The question seemed to catch the immortal off-guard, but then he grinned and lowered his staff. Blade didn’t drop her ready stance.

“Somewhere over the eastern ocean, off the west coast of the Empire,” Anubis said. “To be honest, I’m not sure where. There was supposed to be a lighthouse here, but apparently that’s gone, so I’ll need to jump once more to someplace I do know in order to calibrate this thing.”

“So the city teleports,” Blade said, closing her talons one by one over the hilt of her sword. It wouldn’t be a good weapon in this fight—she wasn’t skilled enough with it to dare use it against a being who could move as fast as Anubis had during their first encounter, and her talons would be much more effective tools, but she didn’t want to risk them until she’d seen exactly how sharp his staff’s blades were.

“It does,” Anubis said, his surprise at their resistance seeming to fade from his face. “How did you resist?”

“Your fear?” Blade replied. “A little bit of belief in something. You shouldn’t be so surprised, Anubis. Tricks like that can’t last forever.”

“I agree,” the immortal said, one corner of his mouth turning up in a grim smile. “But you know what I like most about tricks?” He lifted his staff, holding it horizontally in front of him.

“They conceal the real threat.”

He lunged, leaping forward across the command deck, a snap crying out through the wind as a long, translucent-blue scythe blade formed at the end of his staff. Blade threw herself back, her sword coming out even as the group scattered, Frost firing an arrow at almost point blank range in the midst of her retreat. Anubis’s staff snapped to one side, so quickly it was a blur, the arrow hitting the blade with a sharp ping and shooting off into the darkness.

Then he was in front of her, his staff coming across in a sweeping arc, and she managed to get her claymore out just in time to deflect the curved, viscious blade, sparks flying from her blade. She jerked her wings down, narrowly dodging a second blow cutting back—and then blocking a third with her sword once more as the jackal moved forward.

Hain jumped at him from behind, as did Frost, firing as she moved, and Anubis blocked them both, his staff twirling in the air, weaving intricate patterns around him as he intercepted Hain’s strike and then Frost’s arrow, the butt-end of his staff catching Hain in the side with the same motion. The staff continued on its path, both ends skipping off of Frost’s bow and knocking it aside, and then Anubis stepped forward, his leg lashing out and almost catching Frost in the face as she reversed her course.

Both Frost and Hain fell back as Blade tossed the sword aside, jerking her talons through the straps of her sheath and cutting it off to be cast aside. Anubis stepped back as well, a thin, cold smile on his face as he brought his staff up horizontally in front of him once more.

“So,” he said, his cold, almost gleeful voice sliding across the command deck. “Fake fear is no longer enough for you.” There was a snap as another scythe blade jumped into being, this one on the butt-end of the staff, curving upward into the air while the one at the top was pointed straight down.

“You want the real thing.” His lips pulled back in a grin, exposing long, sharp, canine teeth. “Then come get it, and die like so many others.” For a moment all was still.

And then, as one, they moved.

Blade jumped forward, her wings kicking her down, beneath the immortal’s first, parrying strike, her talons coming up only to catch against the other end of his staff as he blocked her blow. Hain and Frost were both coming in from the sides, their weapons flashing under the moonlight as they each went for the immortal. Anubis seemed to twist, his dark, obsidian coat rolling with each twitch of his muscles as he countered each one of their strikes one after another.

Blade rolled, ducking to one side as Anubis’s staff flew by overhead, narrowly missing her wings—but then, she hadn’t been the target. Frost threw herself back as the scythe slammed into her bow, narrowly missing the bowstring and ripping the bow free of her magic, tossing it across the deck. She caught it a moment later, her violet magic snagging the bow and sucking it back towards her even as she conjured up several more arrows, flinging them straight at the immortal.

He backpedaled, his scythe humming as it snapped through the air, so fast Blade almost couldn’t follow it. Two of the arrows he intercepted. The third bounced off of his armored forearm, and despite herself, Blade smiled.

He could be wounded. If one of them could hit his armor, then they could hit his flesh. And there was a lot of it to hit, too.

She jumped forward, joining with Hain in a two pronged assault that pushed Anubis back, her talons and his knife slashing in and out as they pressed hard. All they needed was a few good openings—the jackal’s only armor was the greaves on his legs and the vambraces and shoulder guards on his arms. The rest of his body was bare, unless she counted the cloth wrapped around his waist or the strange headdress he was wearing. She didn’t think it would count, though if she got a chance to prove it, she’d take it.

Anubis’s foot caught her in the side, the impact painful even through her armor plate, and she pulled back, the tip of his scythe narrowly missing her beak. Hain jumped in, his knife flashing as he saw an opening—only for the other end of the immortal’s scythe to catch it at the last second, turning his blade aside and leaving an opening for the immortal to drive his elbow into Hain’s skull. The old griffon flew back, stunned.

Blade dove forward, her talons outstretched once more, but Anubis twisted again, sliding to the side around her assault and spinning his staff back behind him. The blade scraped across her armor before blazing a thin, painful line across her flank. She hit the stone and spun, letting her momentum carry her further away from the immortal as she glanced back at her haunch. There was a thin, red line on her fur, hardly noticeable compared to the blood already there. It wasn’t worth worrying about.

Frost jumped forward again, alternately firing and slashing with her bow. Anubis dropped back in front of her assault, his weapon twirling and meeting every thrust. Blade pushed herself up, rushing forward again with her wings outstretched, held ready for a quick burst of speed. Then she was back in the melee, her talons flashing as she struck and blocked, trying hard to track the weaving, spinning figure that was the immortal as he held off all three of them at once.

Blade saw his foot come up a second before it slammed into her gut, hitting her so hard she was thrown back across the command deck even as the breath shot out of her lungs. She hit one of the command consoles hard, her head snapping back as the stone refused to yield, and then dropped to the deck, the world spinning around her.

“You’re good, for mortals,” Anubis said as he stepped back, weaving his staff in a defensive blur, Hain and Frost pressing after him. Then he brought up his hand, and for the first time Blade noticed the small bits of armor along the backs of his hand and fingers as he extended his palm in Hain’s direction. Something rippled in the air, the armor bits glinting, and Hain was thrown back by some unseen force, spinning through the air before landing on his side near the edge of the deck. Blade pushed herself up, sucking in air as the immortal turned his focus towards Frost, this time going on the offensive.

“But you don’t know all my tricks,” he said, his scythe knocking Frost’s bow aside again and again as he pushed her back. Blade took a step forward, hobbling towards them as she tried to pull in more air. Together, they had a chance, but one-on-one ...

With a final crack, Anubis batted Frost’s bow aside, the weapon skittering away across the stone and coming to rest near Blade. Frost seemed to freeze, her eyes wide with shock as she looked up at the immortal.

“And like your brother, you can’t beat me,” Anubis said, the scythe swinging down towards Frost’s shoulder. Blade pushed herself forward, barely lifting off of the ground, her eyes wide as she saw the long blade come in close—and then Frost smiled.

Ice erupted around the mare’s shoulder, frozen armor growing outward in long spikes that looked hard as diamonds. The tip of the scythe met the ice with a loud crack, and everything seemed to slow for a brief moment, Anubis’s eyes widening slightly at the unexpected development …

And then the armor exploded outward, an almost deafening bang echoing across the top of the Necropolis as the ice gave way, propelling its jagged, razor-edged spikes outward at lightning speed. Anubis let out a yell of pain, stumbling back away from Frost, and then glared down at the spike protruding from his shoulder. It wasn’t in deep, and as Blade watched he pulled it free and tossed it aside, but she could still see the blood that came oozing out behind it, black like oil under the moonlight.

If it bleeds, she thought, the old war mantra coming to mind as she at long last sucked in a full breath, her wings spreading behind her. We can kill it.

“What?” Frost asked, a hint of sarcasm in her voice as ice began forming around her. “You think you’re the only one with tricks? It’s been over a thousand years, Anubis. You need to get with the times.”

“Very well,” Anubis said, his staff spinning once more in his hands as he stepped back, his body hunched. The staff snapped to a halt, once again held horizontally in front of him. Once more the three of them stepped forward, though now Blade could see the razor-edged look of focus in their eyes.

Anubis smiled, his eyes glittering as he motioned towards them. “Teach me.”

Blade jumped forward, and the battle began again.


*        *        *


The bay that the Superiority had been docked in looked like a warzone. No, Alchemy corrected as he ran into it, his eyes sweeping over the destruction. It was a warzone. Bodies were strewn across the deck, long since silent and cold. Scorch marks seared the stone, signs of magical warfare scarring the floor of the bay and mixing with icy, melting pools of water where Frost’s own magic had been hurled back in retaliation. But most eye-catching of all was the titanic, spiked mass of ice crystals growing out of the Superiority’s side, right from about where one of its water tanks would have been located: a vast, dangerous array of spikes that spoke to their function by the number of cultists impaled on their tips.

He averted his eyes, focusing on the stone beneath his hooves as he ran up to the side of the airship. The chaos and carnage had been unavoidable, but he didn’t have to dwell on it.

A single jump was enough to push him up over the edge of the Superiority’s gunwale, the simple effort tugging at his magic but still leaving him with ample reserve. He couldn’t hold back his smile as his hooves touched the deck. Moving so effortlessly, without having to worry about his lifespan or his potion supply or, well, any of it, felt amazing.

For the first time in years, he felt free.

The door to the inside of the airship was already open, its latch splintered and showing fresh-wooded wounds of its own. He stepped over the unicorn lying slumped inside the entrance, his eyes noting the deep slashes across the mare’s body as Blade’s handiwork. It had been quick, brutal.

He moved on, placing his steps with care as his ears listened for any signs of activity. There were none, though he found signs that what activity had been there had been interrupted, most likely by a raging, red-feathered ball of claw and muscle. But of recent activity, there was no sign. The ship was empty.

Now what? Part of him wanted to turn and leave the bay, to resume the search for the rest of the team, but another part of him wanted to stop, maybe consider using the ship in some way.

But what good would that do? he thought as he stepped onto the  bridge and looked out the windows. He could see ocean stretching out past the mouth of the bay, though he couldn’t tell when they’d moved. Maybe it had been while he was … well, dead.

He shook his head. The airship wasn’t going to do him any good. He needed to find the team.

Which, now that I’m here, shouldn’t be too hard, he thought, taking a quick look around the bay. If they left half the trail they’ve left in here, it shouldn’t be too hard to follow. He’d have to double back and check the hallway, heading the opposite way he’d come from and see if he could find any sign. But first … What would Blade tell me to do if she were here?

Maybe he couldn’t reach the team for a while yet, but there had to be something he could do that might help. Priority one was definitely Anubis, but priority two, now that the Order was done for, was most likely the city itself. And that, right now, given where he was, and what he knew of the Superiority … He nodded. That was something he could do something about.

The engine room was cool when he entered it, the boilers having been turned as far down as possible to keep the airship at a ready state while still reducing fuel consumption. He paused for a second, his eyes darting around the room as he took in water pipes, fuel lines, and—most importantly—safety shutoff valves, overpressure gates that would keep the system from reaching catastrophic levels of heat and pressure.

He smiled. He wasn’t an engineer, but he had a passing knowledge of boilers thanks to his time on the Ocean. And it didn’t take much knowledge of how something worked to figure out how to make it stop working. In an explosive fashion, if necessary.

The valves were the first to go. He snapped regulators, crimped pipes, and screwed everything designed to bleed off excess pressure down as tight as it would go. Safety releases he broke, or jammed. Less than a minute after he’d entered the engine room, all four boilers were nothing more but slowly ticking death traps.

He didn’t want slow. He wanted fast.

It took him only a second to locate the fuel gauges. Four small, independent lines ran out of the far wall, past the gauges and their accompanying fluid controls, and into the base of the heaters beneath the boilers. There were four small levers, each one connected to one of the gauges. At the moment, all four of them were set to their lowest level, letting just enough fuel eke out of the tanks to keep the boilers warm. There was another gauge as well, this one running back into the wall and controlling the pressure at which the fuel was being primed before being brought to the boilers. He slammed it all the way to the right, and the needle started to climb as somewhere, a mechanical pump went to work, pumping air into the priming tank.

He didn’t wait for it to climb very far. Priming a fuel to high pressure could take time, time he didn’t have, but having the pump running would keep the fuel coming at a higher speed than normal. He slammed all four of the fuel valves to one side, and a loud whumph echoed through the engine room, four boilers bursting to full burn as he turned and ran for the door.

A minute later he was running down the hall, following a trail of bones and moving fast, burning a bit of his power to keep his pace up. The explosions of the boilers wouldn’t be enough to do too much damage to the stone, and the liftgas in the envelope was inflammable by design, but the vast supply of gunpowder in the fully topped off powder storage he’d found while searching the ship, well … Hopefully Anubis didn’t mind his city having a newer, much larger landing bay.

Alchemy smiled as he galloped down the hall. Blade would be proud.


*        *        *


Blade slammed into the stone, her head ringing as she bounced off of the thick rock, her mind barely clear enough to push herself back just before Anubis’s scythe cut through the air where her beak had been. Someone came at the immortal from the side, distracting him long enough that Blade could push herself up, dropping her body back into a ready stance as she moved to attack once more.

The demigod’s staff came up, interspacing itself between her and Anubis, twisting this way and that to keep her back while the immortal focused his attention on Hain. Sparks flew as the old griffon’s knife bounced off of one of Anubis’s forearm guards, and then Hain was thrown back as Anubis slammed his fist into the side of his head.

Blade lunged forward, her talons ringing as she caught the immortal’s staff just below the tip. Anubis snarled, yanking the weapon back towards himself, and she followed, letting his pull tug her in close. She slammed into the immortal’s chest, trying to pin his staff up close where he couldn’t use it, only to find herself tumbling through the air as he shoved her back, hard.

She could see arrows streaking in as she righted herself in the air, Anubis deflecting one of them and then falling back, retreating under a barrage of icy bolts so fast even he couldn’t block them all. He ducked behind one of the stone control consoles, three arrows exploding into icy shards as they collided with it.

Good work, Blade thought as she circled around, her wings pumping. Frost continued to fire arrow after arrow, a never-ending rain of ice slamming into the control cabinet and keeping the immortal pinned. Now if Hain and I can work our way around the side—

Her plan went out the window as Anubis rose, arm whipping out and throwing his staff straight towards Frost. She dove to the side, the staff just barely skipping off the edge of her bow and bouncing across the command deck.

He’s unarmed! Blade thought, dropping herself into a dive. We hit him—

Anubis’s palm came up, the immortal not even looking in her direction as he unleashed the same wall of force she’d seen him hit Hain with earlier. She twisted, tucking her wings in tight against her sides even as she tried to get out of the way, but it was too late; she’d been heading at Anubis head on. She saw the air shimmer, twisting and distorting like a giant heat wave was rushing towards her, and then she was tumbling away, the world spinning around her as she was shoved back. It felt like every part of her body had been pushed all at once, like some giant hand had swatted her away.

But aside from the abrupt, jarring change, it hadn’t actually hurt that much. She righted herself in the air, orienting herself with the deck and trying to locate the fight once more.

It wasn’t hard to find. Hain was dueling Anubis once more, the fight a little more fair now that the immortal was lacking his staff. The griffon’s knife was diving in and out, the blade flashing as he drove it forward again and again, only for sparks to fly as Anubis twisted, blocking each thrust with his vambraces. Hain countered, changing his approach and slashing with the knife while trying to get in close with his claws, only to cry out in pain as Anubis wrapped one hand around his wrist, pulled him close, and kneed him in the chest, so hard Blade could see the armor plating dent inward. Hain went down hard, his head slamming into the deck, and though he didn’t go limp, she could see that he was dazed. He wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon.

She pumped her wings, trying to get back to the fight as Frost jumped up over one of the consoles, her bow firing in air. Anubis dove, tucking himself into a roll as he danced away from the mare’s shots. She followed him around the ring, firing over and over again.

Come on! Blade thought, pushing her wings down. One of her armor plates had been heavily dented at some point during the fight, and she could feel the metal pressing in against her side, rubbing against her flesh with each downbeat of her wings. None of us can take this guy alone! The more they fought, the more it looked like they wouldn’t be able to take him together either.

At least he’s unarmed, Blade thought as she flew over the abandoned staff, the blue glow of its blades tinting the stone around it. Frost had almost caught up with the dodging immortal, and several of her arrows had struck his armor, leaving small buildups of ice weighing him down. Without that staff, we might have a—

The staff flew by below her, soaring through the air in a straight line and meeting Anubis’s waiting palm with a loud smack. He whipped it around just as Frost leaped for him, catching the blade of her bow with his scythe and yanking it off to one side. Frost’s eyes widened as the motion transmitted through her telekinetic grip, and both she and the bow went flying off to one side, over the edge of the command ring and onto the deck. She landed with her hooves under her, metal shrieking as she twisted her bow against Anubis’s scythe, trying to pull the two apart. Anubis stepped forward, both hands on his staff as he pushed—

And Blade’s talons raked across his back, carving dark, moist lines across his coat as the immortal howled in surprise and pain. He spun, his fist coming around and catching her in the flank, sending her spinning away to crash against the side of the crystal. She saw him turn back towards Frost, beginning to twist his staff once more, and an arrow shot from the mare’s bow, pinging off of his shoulder armor and off into the night.

He snarled, yanking his staff—and Frost’s bow—inward. This time, Frost let go, and Anubis snapped her weapon around, pointing his palm at it and launching it out into the sky with another wall of force. Frost reacted in time, catching it with her magic before it could fly over the edge of the command deck, but then a second force wave slammed into her, and the mare was flung back off of the command ring, rolling across the command deck.

Her feet under her once more, Blade rose, launching herself at Anubis with her claws outstretched. He turned, but too slowly, and she locked one set of talons around his staff, yanking it down even as she lashed out towards his face with her other foreleg. There was a piercing shriek as the tip of Anubis’s blade punched through her armor, followed by a pain that blossomed along her side, but at the same time she could feel her talons cutting a path through the immortal’s flesh, carving tracks across his obsidian coat. The staff jerked beneath her, Anubis using the blade caught in her armor to twist her off balance. He threw her back, and she landed on three legs, the fourth held at eye level so she could see the dark, oily blood dripping from her talons.

“You bleed,” she said, giving the wounded immortal a grin. She could see a faint shimmer on his chest where she’d struck him, light glinting off of wet, oily, dark lines that moved from his shoulder to the center of his chest. As she watched, it spread, blood seeping from his wounds.

“So do you,” Anubis said, lifting his staff. The latter quarter of the blade was slick with fresh blood, and she could feel the hole in her side leaking more as she stood there. Hopefully the Blood Restoration potion she’d swallowed was still in effect. Otherwise it wouldn’t take more than a few more injuries before she went down for good.

“And unlike you,” Anubis said, taking a slow step forward, once again holding his staff out horizontally. “I’ll bleed for a lot longer.”

The air around his palm pulsed again, but this time, rather than a the lone wave of motion she expected to be hit by, his staff came with it, flying through the air at the forefront of the attack and slamming into her chest hard enough that it lifted her from her feet. Behind it came the wall of force, sweeping her up even as the impact of the staff began to dull, throwing her further back and slamming her into something that refused to yield. She fell to the ground as the wave faded, gasping for breath as Anubis twitched his hand, recalling the staff once more. The world was ringing around her, blurring, her head and whole body hurting.

“Do you know what this city is truly capable of?” Anubis said, stepping towards her as she pushed herself up. “What feats it can accomplish?” He shook his head, reaching out for one of the control consoles and tapping his fingers along the surface. “Why don’t I tell you, since you’re not going to live long enough to find out. I’ll admit, I was planning on keeping you alive long enough to see it, but …” His eyes drifted down to the long, wet tracks across his chest. “Well, I think you understand why I want the satisfaction of killing you now.”

The world was still hard to focus on, though it was slowly coming back. Blade blinked, opening her eyes wide as she looked up at the immortal. “Well, are you going to do it, or are you just going to talk about it?” Yeah, that was smooth, she thought as the immortal’s expression darkened. Let’s make him angry.

“Only when you realize exactly what you’ve failed to prevent,” he said, his eyes still on her. The world was coming back into focus now, her vision clearing as Anubis stepped over to one of the control consoles. And there was something else too, something odd and unfamiliar, a tingling sensation in her forelegs, like they were falling asleep.

“Besides, I’ve yet to be able to explain this to anyone, and with Sagis and his ilk running now that I have no use for them, I might as well tell you three, since you’re trying so hard to prevent it.”

“You talk too much,” she said, pushing herself up on one shaky foreleg. The command deck seemed to tilt around her. That last hit had been a little much, though all she needed was a few seconds …

“Do you know what a light storm does to flesh?” Anubis asked, ignoring her quip as one hand danced over the console. Lights began to shift and move. “It burns it. Right down to the bone. And while my magic can’t do anything to flesh—it’s too heavy, the innate magic too resistant—bones I can animate just fine. Raise as mindless, if effective, automatons, like the ones you faced on your way here.”

“Thus, Necropolis,” he said, smiling. “A teleporting light storm generator. In a few minutes, this city will jump into the skies above your own capital city, Sheerwater, and unleash its power, burning entire districts to ash.”

“It won’t work,” she said, pushing herself up. Her head had cleared now, though she still couldn’t place the tingling in her forelegs as it moved for her talons. All she could do was hope it wasn’t nerve damage. “You think those frigates were doing damage? That’s a fraction of the fleet’s power. The Emperor’s own fleet has several dozen frigates, all top of the line and with the newest weapons. They’ll break this city in half.”

Anubis shook his head. “Of course they would. That’s why I won’t be the one engaging them. They’ll be too busy trying to clear their own streets.”

“What?”

“Necropolis is a fortress, yes, and an outdated one. But it doesn’t need to stand up to your fleet. All it needs to do is fire.”

“Oh thunderheads …” Blade said as what he’d been saying sunk in.

“You understand now,” Anubis said, smiling. “I appear, fire once … and then every griffon struck down by my Necropolis rises and turns on the living. And while the chaos spreads, I move and do it again.” He let out a low chuckle. “And from there? Well, depends on how fast you mortals react. Perhaps I’ll fire another two or three times before I vanish, leaving them to clean up the mess rampaging through the city. And I’ll go somewhere else. Another city. Or maybe another country. And I’ll do it again.”

“And the end goal?” Blade asked. Her vision was back in full now, and she kept her eyes focused on Anubis, her mind peeking at the rest of the scene around them, checking the rest of the deck. She saw a faint flash of metal out of the corner of her eye. Good.

The jackal smiled. “What else is there, mortal?” He almost spit the last word out. “Power. Power over a bunch of short-lived insects whose only purpose is to scurry around for my amusement. Power to watch an entire nation crumble to my whims, to dance at my tune, with the knowledge that any time they resist, I can simply appear in their skies and raise their own dead to fight against them.”

“So just for kicks, huh?” The world had stopped spinning now, and though she could still feel a pain in her side where he had stabbed her, it wasn’t deep, and it wasn’t distracting enough to bother her with all the other aches she had. “Just for fun?”

He shrugged, making a final tap at the control console before stepping toward her. “With the Creator gone, this world falls to us few, the immortals, do with as we please,” he said, smiling. “So yes.”

“Right, I kind of figured you’d say something like that,” she said. The tingling had worked its way to her claws now, and she smiled as she realized she knew what the feeling was. “So you know there’s only one way this can end, then.”

“Indeed,” Anubis said, dropping into a combat stance once more. “I believe my response should be ‘Are you going to do it, or just talk about it?’”

She shrugged. “Oh, definitely do it,” she said, crouching. “But I wanted to make sure I wasn’t the only one in on it first.”

She was jumping even as the last words left her mouth, the tingling, itching sensation of unfamiliar magic erupting across her claws even as Anubis turned, lifting his vambrace just in time to turn Hain’s knife from his throat. His staff came up to block her, blades spinning, and she pushed, grinning as a familiar distortion erupted in the air, this time not around Anubis’s hands but her own talons, spilling out and over the end of the staff and sending it twisting to one side. Anubis reacted quickly, his eyes growing wide with surprise even as he shifted his weight, twisting his body and blocking her outstretched talons with his shoulder. Her talons hit, leaving deep scratches across the guard before biting into the flesh of his arm …

And then she was being thrown back, the immortal recovering and tossing her away with a shrug. He let out a howl of anger, his staff snapping out at both her and Hain, its blue blades a shimmering line in the air as he snapped it back and forth, blocking, parrying, and attacking with both of them at once. Blade twisted, snapping her wings in and out in response as both she and Hain pressed in, jockeying for an opening as they pressed onward. An arrow flashed out of the night, narrowly missing Anubis’s head and continuing on to bounce off of the crystal at the center of the deck, and then Frost was in the fight as well, her bow flashing as she countered Anubis’s staff.

A blow got through, the butt end of Anubis’s staff catching her in the chest on the backswing, the blade following behind and scraping across the front of her crumpled armor. She grimaced, even as Frost took advantage of the distraction to fire another arrow at the immortal’s feet, this one spreading out in a thin layer of ice. Anubis retaliated by slamming the end of his staff into the stone, cracking through the covering and giving him the leverage to launch himself at the ice-blue mare, who fell back off the command ring as his fist swept through the space where her head had been.

Hain jumped for the immortal’s back, dropping down at the last second as the staff whipped by overhead, yet still slashing out with his knife. Anubis let out a shout as the blade cut a long, bloody track along the back of his leg, but rather than snatch the limb away, he kicked back, his foot striking Hain in the shoulder and kicking him across the command deck. He slid off of the ring and dropped onto the deck, out of sight.

“Sands and blood!” Anubis swore as his staff came back up to block Blade’s next attack. “I am so going to kill all of you!”

His fist hit her in the stomach, the impact enough to lift her into the air, followed by a force wave that slammed into her a moment later. It threw her back, almost over the top of the crystal, even as her body began tingling, hungerly sucking in the magic and sending it back to her talons.

“You’re never even going to see your city fall apart in anarchy,” Anubis shouted as he batted aside another arrow from Frost, only to find on the return swing that it had grown into a solid block of ice around his staff. His fist came down, smashing the ice apart as he strode towards the lone mare, his hand catching her bow between the blades as she swung it again and wrenching it free of her magic.

“And I’m going to make sure it burns,” he shouted, lashing out at Frost with both his staff and the bow. The mare ducked back, ice armor exploding outward in razor-sharp fragments that the immortal ignored. “I’m going to level it! You know why?”

He whipped around as Blade dropped out of the sky, the staff snapping up at her too quickly for her to dodge. Her armor, already dented, crumpled, her ribs crying out as the blow battered her aside. Her retaliatory strike went wide, magic rippling out of her claws into open air.

“Because you’re actually starting to make me mad!” Anubis said, spinning back around before she’d even hit the ground and backhanding Frost across the command deck. “I get it, I killed your little friend,” he said, tossing Frost’s bow after her and getting another explosion of ice in return. “But you couldn’t just let that go.” He turned as Blade rose, then rushed at her, slamming her back up against one of the consoles, his staff pinning her forelegs up around her shoulders, holding her against the wall.

“You should have just called it quits then,” Anubis said, pushing against the staff, the metal bearing down on her throat. She pushed back, her forelegs trembling as the immortal began putting more and more pressure on it. Slowly but surely, it was pressing down on her throat, choking her. Anubis’s muzzle was inches from her beak now, his breath hot against her face. Her hind legs were kicking out blindly, trying to find some weak point, something to dig into, but he was playing it smart, leaning forward into her with his body at an angle.

“In two minutes, my city is going to appear over the skies of your precious capital,” he said, his breath ruffling the feathers of her face. The staff pressed in, the metal lowering across her throat despite all the force she was putting into pushing back. “My first targets will be the markets. Griffons and sapients of all kinds will look up as my light burns the flesh from their bones, and then they will rise in turn to burn your city to ashes.” He pushed again, the staff cutting off her airway, and she began to choke, fighting to get air to her lungs.

“But you won’t be alive to see it.” The staff was inexorably grinding down, making sure her throat was completely cut off. She couldn’t wheeze, couldn’t force out any kind of response. Her body was crying for oxygen, screaming for air as Anubis’s leering face filled her tunneling vision—

And then something slammed into the side of Anubis’s face, a blow so fast and so quick she didn’t even register it until the immortal was already falling away. The staff went with him, and she slumped to the ground, gasping and coughing as she sucked in long, deep breaths. Someone’s hooves paused in front of her and she looked up in surprise, her eyes widening as she saw the familiar, orange-furred face.

“Alchemy?” She let out a choked laugh, her throat still throbbing. “Good timing.” He held out a hoof, and she took it, letting him help her up. There was something … different … about him, though she couldn’t quite put her talon on it. “Thanks for the save.”

He nodded. “Save it for when this is all over,”  he said, crouching as Anubis rose. The immortal paused, his jaw sliding back and forth as if he was hunting for something, and then spit onto the stone. A oily, black mass with a tooth at its center splattered against the deck.

“You knocked out one of my teeth!” he roared. “You know how long it takes to regrow one of those!?” He leaped forward, his staff spinning towards them, and Blade jumped backwards, pushing herself with her wings as the scythe missed her chest by inches. Alchemy seemed to blur, moving as fast as Anubis as he jumped, one hoof kicking off of the staff as he rose to meet the immortal. “Centuries!”

Whatever semblance of patience there had been before in Anubis’s motions, there was none now. The jackal was a blur, spinning, moving, dancing across the command deck as he and Alchemy went after one another, both of their bodies moving so fast they were hard to track. Alchemy moved with a speed unlike any she’d seen him exhibit before, blocking Anubis’s staff and dancing around the immortal as they traded blows back and forth. But even that wasn’t enough for him to land any blows on the demigod.

Blade dove in, coming at the immortal from behind, her claws scratching off of Anubis’s staff as he twisted, leaning farther back than she ever would have expected a being on two legs to be capable of, and snapping the staff between both of them, back and forth. They were driving him back, but neither of them could land a hit.

“We’ve only got two minutes!” Blade shouted, trying to get Alchemy’s attention. “Then the whole place is going to move!” A scythe blade scraped across her chest, leaving fresh scratches across the already battered red-and-gold coloring.

“No, we’ve got about fifteen seconds!” Alchemy shouted as he blocked the other end of the staff and shoved it back.

“Until what?” She ducked, barely missing another blow even as she went for Anubis’s legs. Several feathers shot away from her wing—a narrow miss.

“Until the Superiority explodes!” Alchemy shouted, shooting her a grin.

“What?” Both her and Anubis’s shocked cries echoed into the air, only for Alchemy to slam his hoof into the immortal’s face. He rocked back, his staff coming up just in time to deflect Blade’s own assault.

“Yep!” Alchemy said. “I decided to do something you’d do! Any second now!” Anubis snarled and pressed towards them, his staff twirling in the air.

She felt the explosion before she heard it, the stone jerking underfoot, jumping upwards and to the side like someone had kicked it. Then the shockwave hit, a roar of sound so loud she could feel it sweeping across her feathers. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw a gout of flame and smoke spew out of the side of the Necropolis, thick black smoke billowing up into the air as stone cracked and gave way. The Necropolis lurched beneath them, dropping, and for a moment all combat was forgotten as each of them fought for balance, eyes wide as they felt the city begin to fall.

And then, with a heart-stopping lurch, it stopped, its plummet arrested after only a few feet.

“No!” Anubis said, leaping away before either of them could move after him and landing next to one of the control consoles. Alchemy followed, leaping after him, refusing to let up and forcing the immortal to dance away from the display even as the bright text flashed up at him.

“You!” he said as Alchemy blocked his staff. “It’s going to take me days to fix that. Weeks maybe!”

“What’s the matter?” Alchemy asked as he danced back, Anubis following. “I thought you were supposed to be an immortal. Ever patient and all that.”

It’s not enough, Blade realized as she watched Alchemy fall back once more, leaping and twisting over the side of the command ring. Even he can’t keep up with him. They needed Hain and Frost. But Hain was—

“The staff!”

She spun as she recognized the voice. Hain was limping around the side of the command ring, opposite the side Anubis and Alchemy were dueling on. His rear leg was twisted, bent at an odd angle, and he was using his wings to hold himself up. His knife was still clutched in his talons, however.

“The staff,” he said again as she ran towards him. “We need to do something about the staff. It gives him too much reach.”

“Right,” she said, her mind racing. Anubis could recall it if they took it away, and who knew from how far away, so throwing it wasn’t an option. They needed to get it away from him and keep it from him. “Right,” she said again. “Frost?”

“Went over the edge,” Hain said, shaking his head. “I can’t go after her, not with this leg.”

“Right,” she said, nodding, and glancing back at Alchemy. He and Anubis were still going at one another, though Alchemy was giving up more and more ground. She clapped a talon on Hain’s shoulder. “Stay here, keep low until you can do something. I’ll see if I can spot Frost.” She jumped into the air, ignoring the pain in her body as she flew out over the edge of the command deck. The outer sides leading down to the main superstructure of the city was sloped, so if she’d been able to—Yes! There, a quarter of the way down the slope, was Frost, a trail of small, icy hoofholds stretching out below her on the stone. As Blade watched, the unicorn conjured another small bit of ice and threw it into the rock above her, pulling herself up the steep slope to grab it.

“Frost!”

The mare looked up, eyes wide as Blade swooped down. “Blade?”

“Alchemy’s back,” she said as she swooped in close, holding out her forelegs. Frost’s face lit up even as she jumped away from the side of the city, locking her wrists around Blades elbows. “Hain has a plan. You still have magic?” She began to rise through the air, her wings burning as she lifted Frost up towards the command deck.

“I do!” Frost called. “What’s the plan?”

“To watch for an opening,” she replied. “Alchemy and I are going to try and get Anubis’s staff away from him, and from there, you might have a better shot!”

“Right!” They passed over the edge, the command deck once again spread out before them, and Blade let go. Frost hit the ground at a run, her horn already lighting up as she located her bow and pulled it across the deck.

Okay, Blade thought as she spotted Anubis on the far side of the deck, still pushing Alchemy back further and further. The orange earth pony was sporting several bloody lines across his body, though the wounds had already healed, but she could see that he was starting to drag a little. Hain, meanwhile, was keeping his distance. From the way Anubis was positioned, it was clear the immortal was keeping an eye on him.

Okay, Blade thought as she climbed a little higher. We can’t play keep away, and we can’t just toss it over the edge. Think outside the box here, Blade. Outside the box. Box. B. Plan B. Break.

No, she thought as she looked down at the scene, watching as Frost moved in, taking some of the pressure off of Alchemy with her arrows and keeping her distance. It’d never work … would it?

There was only one way to find out. And it was as good a plan as any. She tucked her wings in close, dropping into an almost vertical dive. She’d need to time it just right. She adjusted her course, spiraling around so that she was coming in from the side, where Anubis and Alchemy both would see her.

“Alchemy!” she called just before she hit. “The staff!”

Anubis spun, his staff held out at arm’s length, and she slammed into it at full speed, ignoring the pain of impact as the force shot up her forelegs. She spun, her talons digging into the metal as she whipped around Anubis, the staff stretched tight holding them together.

And then, rising into the air, his hoof cocked back as he put everything into the blow, came Alchemy.

The staff snapped as his hoof hit it, sparks flying as it came apart in two halves. Blade went spinning across the deck, slamming into the stone and losing her grip on the half she’d been holding. It skittered away across the deck, bouncing off the side of the command ring. She rolled to a stop, slightly disoriented and sore, but alive.

“You … Bloody sands!” Anubis shouted, and she looked up to see him still holding his half of the staff. The bottom end was a wreck, but the blade was still active, and as she watched he flipped the remains around in his hand, the blade now forward. He lunged at Alchemy, who fell back, clearly exhausted by the strength of the force he’d put into the blow. Blade sympathized—her talons felt like they would never stop ringing. “Do you have any idea how much work it took to make that?”

He lunged forward again, the tip of his blade cutting a shallow arc across Alchemy’s chest. “I’m going to kill each of you nice and slow,” he said, lifting his free hand in the direction of Frost. The air rippled, two of her shots scattering as she dove to the deck.

“You’ve busted up my city, blown up part of it, and now you’ve broken my staff?” Alchemy got his hooves up in time to block the next strike, but the next one cut another thin track along his leg.

Come on, Blade, she told herself, ignoring the ringing in her talons as she pushed herself up. If you don’t stop him here, who will?

She jumped forward, one wing sending a shooting pain down her side as she moved back into the fight. She felt like she was moving through mud, her limbs reacting slower than was normal. But they were reacting, and she ducked under Anubis’s next blow, her talons glancing off of his armor.

A fist hit her between the eyes, and she stumbled back, her vision clearing just fast enough to see the end of the staff before it slammed into the side of her head. Her body went limp, stars erupting all around her as she dropped to the stone. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alchemy leap forward, only to be swept aside as Anubis hit him with another force blast. The orange earth pony skidded across the stone, barely standing.

“You know,” Anubis said, reaching down and locking his fingers around the back of her head. She cried out in pain as he lifted her from the ground, pain shooting through her skull. “For a bunch of mortals, you did pretty good.” He lifted what was left of his scythe. “But in the end, it doesn’t matter. You still die … just the same!” He smiled and pulled back what was left of his scythe as behind him, Hain rose out of the night, his knife in one pair of talons, the other half of Anubis’s staff in the other.

The immortal screamed as both blades dug into his flesh, diving deep into the meaty muscle above his collarbones. Blade dropped, spreading her wings to catch herself as she fell and then pushing herself forward, taking advantage of the distraction to dig her claws deep into Anubis’s chest, so deep she could feel them scrape against the bone. Anubis spun, tossing her aside as he whirled to go after Hain, but the old griffon was clinging to his back, his talons wrapped tightly around the embedded staff, the blade sunk all the way up to the metal, while his knife flashed in and out, cutting at muscle after muscle in a series of precision strikes. Then he dropped, and as he fell his knife darted out once more, cutting into the flesh behind Anubis’s knees and sending the immortal stumbling forward.

Alchemy was on him in a moment, stepping up behind the immortal and slamming his hooves into the backs of Anubis’s knees. Then he jumped, rising even as the jackal fell, kicking out at the base of the broken staff and twisting the blade further. Anubis lifted a hand—only for an arrow to spear right through it before encasing it in ice.

Blade stepped forward, gritting her teeth and clenching her beak as she picked up the half of the staff that Anubis had dropped. Alchemy and Frost struck again as Anubis tried to rise, their combined blows spinning him around and sending him stumbling towards the edge of the deck. Blade waited, hefting the other half of the broken staff in her hand, and then, as the immortal turned, she shot forward, putting all her strength into the swing. The solid thunk of the blade embedding itself on the right side of his chest was all she needed to feel, and she let go as Anubis dropped to his knees, oily blood seeping from more than a dozen deep wounds. She could see his muscle tissue through a few of them—it was pale and grey, like ash.

“I’ve read my history,” Blade said as she stepped back, watching the immortal’s shoulders heave up and down as he struggled for breath. “You die just the same if someone hurts you enough.”

“Why …?” Anubis’s head turned upwards, his teeth set back in a grimace. “You could have just left. It was just money! A job!”

“Yeah,” Blade said, nodding. It hurt to stand, but she didn’t want to drop. “Kind of. But you only skimmed the surface of my mind. Money was nice, sure, but it wasn’t completely about that. And to be honest, it hasn’t really been about that for a while now.” Hain limped up alongside her right side, his wings outspread as he tried to keep his weight from his rear leg. Alchemy followed suit, standing at the ready on her left, though he looked like he wanted to do nothing more than sleep.

“Oh, really?” There was still a note of defiance in Anubis’s voice, raspy and weak as it was. He put one hand on the ground, pushing himself up into a low crouch, his body shaking as he spoke. “Then I expect it was all about the glory, wasn’t it? The honor of stopping one of the immortals, of keeping his ‘evil plan’ from coming to fruition.”

“Yeah,” Blade said, nodding as the immortal rose to his full height, swaying on his feet. “Those are all pretty good reasons, especially that last one.” Hain and Alchemy both nodded in agreement. “But there was one more reason.” She stepped to one side, parting as she heard the hoofsteps coming up behind her.

“Oh?” Anubis asked, glaring at them as he lifted his hand to his side, stemming the slow seep of blood. “And what was that?”

“My brother,” Frost said, loosing an arrow into his chest.

Anubis gasped, his hand rising to clutch at the icy shaft protruding from his chest. His eyes traveled down, wide and unbelieving as he looked down at the thick arrow, and then back up at the team.

“I … I …” His eyes seemed to focus on something far beyond them, going wide as he took a shambling step backwards. Frost shot him again, the second arrow burying itself beside the first, ice spreading outward from this one and imprisoning his arm and chest. His jaw went slack, his shoulders drooping as he swayed one final time.

“No …” he whispered. And then he was gone, falling back off the edge of the command deck. The team stepped forward, watching as the once-mighty immortal’s body rolled down the side of the Necropolis before slamming into the stone roof almost a hundred feet below them. There was silence.

Anubis, Lord of Bones and ruler of the Necropolis, was dead.

Blade let out a sigh, sinking back on her haunches as her body started to tremble. It was done. They’d won. Beside her, Frost’s bow clattered to the deck, the mare sinking with a look of shock and surprise on her face. Then, to Blade’s surprise, she began to cry, tears carving icy paths down her cheeks.

“I did it,” she said as Blade moved over toward her and pulled her in close. “I got him. Just like he wanted me to. I did it.”

“He’d be proud,” Alchemy said, stepping up alongside them and giving her a tired smile. “Trust me.”

“Not to break up the celebration,” Hain said. “But what are we going to do about the city?”

“We break it,” Blade said. “Crash it, right here, with Anubis’s corpse still on it. He wanted a city of the dead, now he’s got one. It can be his crypt. His real one,”

“Right, right,” Hain said. “But how do we do that? I can’t read any of the instructions on this thing.”

“The crystals,” Frost said, pulling away from Blade’s shoulder and wiping her tears away with one hoof. “The keys.”

“What?”

“We still need them to get paid, right?” she asked. “Well, they’re both set in the floor next to that throne, and both of them are glowing. If we pull them out …” She shrugged.

Hain nodded. “It could work. We’ve got to get them anyway, so we might as well try. We’d have to fly to shore, though.” He glanced at Blade. “You think your wings could handle it?”

She nodded. “It’s not too far. We’re pretty high up, and there’s good winds. We can glide it.” She turned towards Frost and Alchemy. “You two would have to ride, though.”

“Whatever it takes to get us off of this thing,” Alchemy said. “If you think it’ll help, I’ll flap my legs.” Frost nodded, though she didn’t speak.

“Right,” Blade said, wincing as she took a step towards the command ring, where the central crystal was still humming away, displays glowing green around it. The deck felt almost empty now that the battle had finished.

She paused as her crumpled armor dug into her side once more, and then sat back on her haunches. “Give me a second,” she said, peeling the plates back and reaching for the releases. “Might as well shed some weight.”

The chest panels clattered as she tossed them on the stone, and for the first time she could see how much damage she’d taken during the fight. The metal was scorched and dented, with several holes in it where something had punched through. She pressed her talons against her side, wincing as she felt her ribs ache.

“Trouble?” Alchemy asked, stepping up to her. She waved him away.

“Cracked ribs,” she said. She’d dealt with them before. “Maybe broken. Hain’s leg is definitely broken. Go check him.”

“I already did,” Alchemy said. She blinked. Had she been taking her armor off for that long?

“You also might have a light concussion,” he said. She blinked again, and he nodded. “Make that almost certainly.”

“Well, I’ll fly it off,” she said, rising and looking up at the command ring. “Is Hain good to fly?”

“He is,” Alchemy said. “His wings are good. We’ll need to set his leg and put a splint on it as soon as we can, though.”

She nodded. The news didn’t come as a surprise. “Well, let’s get our paycheck and get out of here.” She rose, walking towards the command ring and letting out a faint sigh as she felt the wind whip through her matted fur. She felt tired, filthy, and disgusting, but it was all almost over.

“By the way,” she said as she made her way up onto the command ring, Alchemy close behind. “Did you pass a dragon on the way to us?”

Alchemy shuddered. “Yes, and let’s just say I’m glad it was facing the wrong way.”

“Right,” she said, slowing as she neared the throne. There, just as Frost had said, was one of the crystal keys, glowing faintly, its top flush with the stone deck. She trotted around to the other side of the throne, spotting the second key. “Maybe if we bring back two, we’ll get a better payday.”

“Two-hundred thousand bits isn’t enough?” he asked as she reached out, wrapping her talons around the thick, crystal shaft running along the top of the key.

It really was a handle, she thought as she looked up at Alchemy. “For what we just did, I feel like I should be holding out for a million.” She clenched her beak shut and tugged.

Nothing. The crystal didn’t budge.

She frowned. Maybe there’s a locking mechanism? She tried to twist it to the left. Nothing. She turned it to the right. Success! The crystal key slid smoothly for a bit, and then stopped.

All right, she thought. Now out! She pulled upward, and slowly but surely it began to rise.

Tartarus, she thought as she pulled it further up. Either this thing’s really heavy, or … No, she could feel it trying to pull itself back, trying to suck itself back in. There was a faint, deep hum growing from beneath her.

“Blade?” Alchemy asked as the key’s outward momentum stopped with a click.

Must be another—Yep, there it is, she thought as she began turning it again, this time to the left. When it stopped and she began pulling this time, the hum grew noticeably louder, until she could feel it in her teeth. It was getting easier to pull out, though, and as she felt it stop once more, it was two-thirds out, only the very point still down in the receptacle. She could see energy—visible magic, and the source of the hum—arcing between the key and its slot.

“Blade?” Alchemy asked again.

“Alchemy,” she said, giving the key a final twist to the right. “As soon as this key comes out, take it right to Hain and get moving. I’ll get the other one. You got that?”

The orange earth pony nodded. “Got it.”

“Good.” She pulled up, the hum growing louder and louder, the arcing magic growing more and more violent until … The key popped free, almost launching upward as she pulled it out, the magical arcs vanishing with a loud snap. She held onto the key for a moment, surprised at how light it was despite its size, and staring at the faint, blue pulses within it as the humming sound faded.

“That it?” Alchemy asked.

Then there was a rumble, the entire Necropolis shaking underfoot, and she tossed the key at him as the city began to tilt. “Go!” Alchemy didn’t wait, tossing the key onto his back and running for the edge of the city as the shaking grew more intense.

Come on Blade, she told herself as she ducked around the side of the throne, wrapping her claws around the second key. The deck was already tilting at an alarming angle, and though the rate seemed to be slowing. Still, the Necropolis clearly didn’t like having half of its … Well, whatever the key was torn away. You already know the sequence. Get it out. The hum began again as the key lifted out, energy arcing beneath it.

Now go! she thought as she tugged the key free. She flapped her wings, lifting off as an even more alarming rumble echoed through the city superstructure, a long, uneven groan coming with it. The deck began to tilt again as she flew over it, this time in the other direction, and much faster.

“Blade!” It was Frost, holding onto the tilting deck by means of her bow, the bladed tip stuck deep into a seam in the stone. “Here!”

Blade went into a shallow dive, reaching out with one set of talons and catching hold of the mare’s hoof. She swung her up onto her back, ignoring the yelp of pain from her foreleg and the sudden increase in weight her wings were complaining about, instead focusing on getting them away with as much speed as possible. Frost’s bow floated up next to them, wrapped in the mare’s magic, and Blade put on a burst of speed, aiming for the distant figures ahead of her in the air.

The rumble increased, building to a roar that made it sound as if the world itself was coming apart, and she slowed, turning so that she could see. Behind them, the Necropolis was falling from the sky into the ocean, coming apart in great, stone slabs as it fell. It hit the surface of the sea with a spray of foam that quickly became a roiling storm, water splashing high into the sky as the massive stone fortress buried itself in a watery grave. The last thing to slip beneath the surface, still faintly glowing as it vanished into the foam, was the titanic crystal that had been at the very center, its tip still skyward. Blade waited for a moment as bubbles drifted up from beneath the sea, breaking apart the foam and splitting the incoming waves. And then that too ceased, the sea once more returning to its tranquil state, as if the Necropolis had never existed in the first place.

Blade turned away and headed for the shore, settling her wings into a gentle glide.

It was finished.



Count of Laws Broken: 0
Total Laws Broken: 111
Damage Value (In Bits): 1,402,934
Total Damage Value (In Bits): 1,794,021