(Dyn)

  The m…

  Dyn woke up to hearing whispers just outside of his dain before it flung open.

  “Present,” he said. His hammock rocked violently bad forth, threatening to toss him. Ru and Wedge were standing in the hallway.

  “Get him ready,” Ru told Wedge and then walked off.

  “Greetings, Dyn.” Wedge skipped his usual formalities—that was new. “I see you are adapting to your weaknesses.”

  “What?” Dyn sat up, kig his legs over the side of the hammock as he rubbed his eyes.

  “You prepared yourself befoing to sleep. It saves time, waking up te as you do with your excessive sleeping requirements.” Wedge gestured to the gear he’d slept in. “I am curious. Is this a trait all humans share?”

  Dyn’s sigh morphed into a yawn. “It’s too early for this. Are you sure I ’t have any mana-tea?” He looked up at the big guy, pleading with his saddest puppy dog eyes. “Just one sip—we should test it.”

  “No.” Wedge shook his head, refusing to eain the idea.

  Dyn’s shoulders slumped. “You’re mean…”

  Wedge frowned and cleared his throat. “No one will be having any mahe brewing mae has been disassembled to fix the ship.”

  Dyn’s head snapped up. Drowsiness vanished, repced by dread. “Is… is that a joke? Please tell me you’re joking.”

  Wedge met his gaze with a humorless expression. “I do not joke about mana-tea.”

  Dyn huffed as he got to his feet. “Man… Now everyone’s going to be extra grumpy.” He froze, uo move as a terrible thought ripped through his mind. Terrified of the answer, he forced himself to ask, “What about the deathwash mae?”

  “It is safe… for now.”

  Dyn exhaled, easing the tension in his shoulders. “Good, because I’m down to this shirt and two pairs of pants until we get back.” He bent down, swiped his dirty pants off the floor, and squeezed past Wedge to find the deathwash mae before it was too te.

  “Yes!” He fist pumped, finding the mae empty. After tossing in his pants, he shoved his hand into the top feed slot. A sharp jolt ran up his arm, ached his pants as they started tumbling. “I’ll be back for you ter,” he said to his pants.

  The rest of Nightshade waited for him on the deck so they could all head out together. Quinten noticed him first, straightening from where he leaned on an annoyed-looking Ostello to give Dyn a friendly wave.

  “G’day, mate!” Quinten called, grinning.

  “Sorry I’m te,” Dyn said.

  W’itney lightly jabbed Hay’len with their elbow, gesturing toward Dyn. “And I thought only princesses were heavy sleepers.” Their smile vanished under Eury’s withering gre. Hay’len did their best to hide a grin at the eldest twin’s admonishment. They weren’t particurly good at it.

  To Ru’s credit, she ighe m banter and waited patiently for them to finish before starting the meeting. She pointed past the ship and into the jungle.

  “The arc beetle isn’t the only dangerous thing out there. I’d hoped to send out my team to get the y of the nd, but that’s not happening. Today, we’re all stig together.”

  Tome & Key stood alert, ready for a. Athrax’s cyberic arms twitched with anticipation as the old soldier’s gaze locked onto the jungle. Even P’reslen appeared to have cast off the shadow of yesterday, standing tall and ready to face this new day. Dyn couldn’t help but wonder if they’d gotten to the brewing mae before Echo ibalized it.

  Ru stepped in front of Dyn and his fellow initiates. “Give Wedge or one of my team a tap if you see something you think might be worth iigating. Stow the banter and if you do have to speak, keep it to a whisper. Are there any questions before we head out?”

  Dyn raised his hand, and everyouro him, waiting for him to speak.

  Hay’len leaned in toward him and said, “You know you don’t have to keep doing that, right?”

  “Doing what?” Dyn whispered, feeling as if it was the appropriate response.

  Hay’len g his raised arm.

  Dyn followed their gaze, smiled sheepishly, and put his hand down. “Sorry, how will we be graded?”

  That wasn’t a question Ru expected. “What?”

  “For the trial, how will we know if we passed?” he crified. Eury and the twins nodded in agreement with Dyn and looked expetly at Ru.

  “Why don’t you worry about ing back alive first, yeah?” Athrax said. “And sider anything more a bonus.”

  Wedge, the actual instructor and proctor of the trial, spoke up. “Do not worry about that. Focus on surviving.” That didn’t answer Dyn’s question, but it was solid advice.

  There were no other questions, so they set off down the gangpnk and into the jungle. Dyn had already made peace with losing his quilted armor, which would have beeering uhe rising sun’s muggy heat.

  He quickly discovered that maces were useless for cutting through underbrush, and his pink crystal dagger, though sharp, was too short for the job. Athrax’s mundane machete was ideal for the task, and he used it to great effect, driving a path through the vegetation.

  They tinued marg single file urees, over roots, rocks, and through bushes, stopping frequently to stay hydrated. Dyn knew he was slowing them down, everyone knew, but they were kind enough to let it remain unspoken. Soured down his face, his sleeves too damp to dry his brow. His legs burhen ached, and now felt like rubber, but he never pined.

  His foot slipped on a moss-covered rock, aeetered on the brink of falling before Eury’s hand shot out, grabbing his arm and steadying him.

  “I’ve got you,” she said, holding him upright. Auto-manners was about to thank her. But as quickly as she steadied him, she was gone, already marg on with the group.

  “This is going to take forever,” P’reslen pined, frustrated with being grounded. “You sure I ’t just—” He held his arm out, mimig flight. “I’ll stay uhe tree line.”

  “No,” Ru said. Her fur was matted and damp from the ging humidity, her tail flig irritably behind her. “I’ll sider it after we’ve located the arc beetle.” The jungle air hung thick around them, sapping their strength. She gnced back over her shoulder at Dyn, notig the wobble in his legs again. “Let’s take a quick break.”

  Dyn took another pull from his everflow fsk, the cool water refreshing and, most importantly, safe to drink. A triple bo of dimension, fire, and frost magic provided hot or cold water on demand, all in a lightweight teen that stallons. Dimension magic was quickly being his favorite.

  Gng down at his midse, he noticed it looked smaller than he remembered. Experieold him hunger would strike ihan an hour. Fk sustained him for just over a day, and his st meal had been almost exactly twenty-four ho.

  He wished Nathan had e along orip. As a physi, he’d know how many days would be safe to go without eating. If the i was to be believed—a big if—he could survive about a month without food. Of course, those estimates probably didn’t at for daily treks through rough terrain.

  Fk was supposed to provide all the nutrients a person needed for a day, but Dyn had a theory he wao test—ohat would have to wait. Hopefully, in five days, he’d see if one serving of fk could fully resolve any malnutrition. Everyo to their feet as the water break eheir trek resumed.

  Athrax led them to a small clearing, almost big enough for all of them to stand shoulder to shoulder. A rge leaf spped Dyn across the cheek with a damp smack, like it had a personal vea. He spped it away from his face. Another smaded on his other cheek as the stubborhery leaf came back for round two. Eury chuckled to herself as she watched Dyn square off against a pnt.

  “Stop it,” he whispered angrily. “You stupid piece of—” He gripped the stem firmly in both hands, finally getting the upper hand as he tore it from the rest of the bunch, and then threw it to the ground in triumph. His cheeks flushed red from tact, exertion, and embarrassment—in that order.

  “Are you done?” Ru asked. The group stared at him with a mix of amusement and annoyance. Dyn stopped himself from pointing out that the pnt had started it.

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he said, gng down to pick at the grime under his nails.

  The clearing erched atop a ridge, where exposed roots, rocks, and dirt twisted steeply down toward a sprawling meadow below. The trees loomed side by side, f a thick tree line along the ridge but stopping short of the lownds.

  Athrax desded the cliffside like he’d do a thousand times before, carving a path through the loose dirt and rocks without a sed thought. “Keep moving. No time for fancy footwork.”

  “Why ’t we use your door thing to get down there?” Dyn whispered to Quinten.

  Quinten leaoward Dyn. “Look at you, trying to figure out all my secrets.” He pyfully tapped Dyn’s chest. “It’s got two charges, mate, and every time someone passes through, it uses one. Ru told me to keep it handy for a sticky situation. Listen, I’ve got a cousin—”

  Ru shushed them. Athrax made it down safely, and the rest of them followed suit. Nine of them slid down the cliffside, the sharp ctter of falling rocks eg around them. The old soldier dodged to avoid the cascade of debris chasing after him.

  Ostello whispered, “That was too loud.” The ground shifted beh their feet as deep rumbles echoed around them. In the lownds, it was impossible to pinpoint the sound’s dire.

  “Quiet!” Ru hushed them. Everyone’s heads swiveled around, trying to locate the source. The rumbles grew louder, shaking the air with eainous vibration, as something very rge headed their way. A cold chill raced down Dyn’s spihe hairs on his arms standing on end.

  “There he is. Big bastard,” Athrax muttered, his cyberic arms flexing for a fight. “Stay low, and don’t do nothing stupid.”

  Dyn crouched as eaew rumble brought him lower. The sound bounced off the cliffside, making it impossible to determihe source.

  “We’re sitting pups here,” Athrax growled. “What’s the py, Ru?” He g her, looking for dire.

  They didn’t o find the source of the rumbles; it had found them. The titanic bug lumbered into view on their right, its iridest shell glinting faintly in the sunlight. It was far bigger than he expected. The five-story tall, six-legged kaiju trudged toward them. Each time an made ndfall, the ground shook. His childhood obsession with Animal Pold him he was looking at the gaxy’s rgest Hercules beetle.

  ‘Jesus Christ, I hope it’s the gaxy’s rgest beetle,’ he thought.

  The bck shell shimmered with purple and green hues as it tio approach. It wasn’t a perfect match for the beetle from Earth. The horns were reversed, and this beetle’s bottom horn was longer.

  Three minutes ago, they’d been safely atop the ridge, where they could have slipped bato the jungle unnoticed. Now, they were trapped between an arc beetle and a goddamned cliff. The kaiju wasn’t heading straight for them, but it wasn’t veering far enough away either. Its rhythmic plodding shook the ground as it grew closer and closer.

  “Nobody move,” Ru said.

  His hands trembled; their entire defense was to hope it didn’t notice them. His mind ran because his feet couldn’t. How many bugs had he crushed in his life, simply because he could? Hundreds? Just as the unon-ranked kaiju began to turn away, someone decided to be a hero.

  Dyn heard P’reslen mumble, “What would Lo’kai do…” He assumed P’reslen had been ing away from the beetle like the rest of them. But as soon as the noble drai had enough distance, he turo Ru with determinatioched on his fad said, “I’ll lead it away a you back at the ship.”

  “No!” Ru growled, spinning around and lunging to grab him. But P’reslen had pnned his escape perfectly, ung into the sky with a gust of wind before she could reach him.

  The beetle veered away from the group as P’reslen shouted, “Over here!” His voice faltered as he realized his error too te.

  A deep thrumming pulsed through Dyn’s chest, vibrating his breaths and quiing with every beat. Arcs of electricity crackled between the beetle’s horns, the fshes growing brighter and sharper.

  Uerred, P’reslen stuck to his pn to lure the monster away. “e now, mighty beetle! You’ll—”

  A sudden, terrible pressure surged through the air, faster than Dyn’s ears could adjust, cutting P’reslen’s speech short. The world fell utterly silent in the moments that followed.

  P’reslen plummeted out of the sky as he covered his ears, crashing hard into the ground. Ru shouted silently, her ears fttened as she clutched them, but Dyn couldn’t read her e lips. Quinten opened a door and dove through it, appearing beside his fallen friend.

  Quinten ighe green blood running from his elven ears. He grabbed two handfuls of P’reslen’s clothes and hurled him through the door. Out of charges and on cooldown, Quinten looked up at the arc beetle. Dyn watched the emotions flicker across his face: determination, acceptance, and finally defiance, just as the bright ball of arergy annihited him.

  The explosion was brilliant, powerful enough to shove even the beetle back. More than strong enough to knock the rest of them off their feet, sending them tumbling.

  Dyn’s ears popped painfully as the barometric pressure released, followed by a high-pitched ringing that left him deafehere was a boulder to his left that he barely missed. Ru hadn’t been as lucky—her blood marked a purple stain where she’d struck the boulder. Her body y crumpled at its base.

  He forced himself to stand, his legs shaking as his head pounded and the world spun around him. He fumbled for a potion in his pocket and shuffled toward Ru. Before he could get the potion in her mouth, Dyn watched Athrax leap high into the sky at the beetle like a madman.

  The brawler hadn’t fully recovered—casg purple droplets trailed from his wounds as he unched himself forward. He dove in with nothing but two ched cyberic fists, no armor, no mender.

  Dyn cursed under his breath as the vial slipped from his fingers, spilling the green liquid tents into the thirsty soil. Distracted by his fumble, he didn’t see what happeo Athrax. But the aftermath was clear: the okamijin y in two pieces. her his torso nor his legs moved.

  Wedge stood firm with both shields raised as he kept his distance. He held his grouween the beetle and the other, more sensible initiates, who huddled behind him.

  Dyn slid the bck reaper-round from the buttstock holder Ni’ot had given him and loaded it into the shotgun. He jammed his hand into the bag around his chest, grabbing a fistful of shells and loading them into the magazine as he stumbled forward.

  When the shell wouldn’t fit in the magazine, he figured that was enough for what he had in mind. He had a pn to fix this, to save them all, but he had to act fast.

  “Goddamnit,” he muttered, raising the barrel as he pressed the stock against his shoulder.

  He aimed to get its attention and pulled the trigger. The bck round’s recoil nearly knocked him off his feet. It should’ve puhrough the armor aonated a sed ter. Instead, it ricocheted off the beetle’s head pting, exploding harmlessly in the sky.

  “Aw e on!” Dyn groaned, realizing he’d wasted his best shot. Disappointing Ni’ot would have to be a problem for Future Dyn—right now, there was an arc beetle to deal with.

  He fired shot after shot at the five-story building bearing down on him. The damn thing was the fastest building he’d ever seen. As he tried to pump the shotgun for the fifth time, movement to his left caught his attention. The fug legs had bded armor… He finally figured out what happeo Athrax just before it hit him. Dyn died before both halves of him hit the ground.