Nat’s stomach finally settled as she sat with her back to the cool stone. Outside the large cave—the original rallying point before entering the Cradle of Tomorrow—the pounding rain continued unabated on the dark savanna. Somewhere out there, another group of Bonders were on their way to join the raid groups, according to the guards, and Nat could only hope whatever hit her, hadn’t hit them.

  “Ugh,” Milly said from not far away, one hand over her mouth. Her skin was at least three shades of white paler than usual. “I thought my lunch was never going to stop trying to crawl its way up my throat. While being angry.

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing good…” Cal said from closer to the line of falling rain. Unlike the two sisters, her lunch had ejected at the first sign of trouble. Violently. And in a volatile stream nearly six feet long. It… was actually kind of impressive how much projectile vomit had left the older woman’s mouth. As a Grower, if she managed to do it a couple more times, she’d probably get a spontaneous ability evolution.

  “No, really, that had to have been something, right?” Milly said, head turning toward the men standing—no, sitting—guard outside the raid-zone’s entrance. They, clearly, hadn’t escaped the sudden feeling of moving and then dropping that had hit the three girls. “Could it have been a… what were they called? An earthquake?”

  “Wasn’t any shaking,” Nat said. “It just felt like… I don’t know. Like somebody picked the whole cave up, cocked back their arm, then threw us.”

  “They definitely don’t throw like a girl then,” Cal groaned.

  “What does that even mean?” Milly said. “I throw fine.”

  Nat laughed. “You catapult, you don’t throw.”

  “Catapulting sounds way better than throwing,” Milly said, a superior eyebrow going up. “And, maybe we were catapulted.”

  “By what?” Nat said, an eye going to her status window, which was thankfully working again. Whatever had happened to them, it’d even cut off their connections to their PIMs temporarily. It was more than a little relieving to see that returned. No debuff, though.

  “Do you think the others are okay?” Cal asked, rolling over onto her back, arms thumping and spread out to other side of her. From the position, head practically upside down, she watched the rain fall. “If that’d happened to us while we were out running a trial or something…”

  “Our raid group is fine,” Milly said. “Everybody is taking a break after that last trial.”

  “As long as they weren’t all in the mess-hall when that happened…” Nat said and trailed off, looking at the six-foot line of vomit vanishing beneath the rain.

  “Gross,” Milly said. “Horrifying and gross.”

  “Just thinking about it makes me want to… urk,” Cal said, rolling on to her side to face away from the girls. For somebody a few years older than either of them, she spent a lot of time with them.

  At the beginning, Nat wasn’t sure what to make of the Grower. Especially after what her brother told her had happened to Cal before she’d joined the raid group. Since she’d gotten to know her, though, those worries were gone. Caleon was kind of like… a big sister to the whole raid group. One who very much didn’t want anything to happen to them.

  She was a little overprotective sometimes, sure, but her versatile advanced class gave her a lot of options to help the group. She was what everybody needed, even if that was somebody to talk to during the downtime. That was what had brought the three of them out there in the first place. Nat and Milly had both been worried about their mother and brother.

  Cal—having lost people very important to her—understood their concern. She listened when they talked, and she understood what it would be like if anything happened. Most importantly, she didn’t dismiss their worries because they were younger than her. They weren’t kids, in her eyes. They were young women.

  Yes, they could’ve gone to their father to talk—he would’ve listened—and he understood their worry more than most. They were all worried about the same two people, after all. Problem was, he was busy. He’d always make time for them if they asked, but the others in the Cradle needed him just as much as Nat and Milly did. As much as Grandmother, and more than anybody else in the Trust, their dad was respected and listened to.

  Nat couldn’t bring herself to take him away from the others who needed him. Especially not if it would make him worry more when he knew Nat and her sister were afraid they’d never see Hiral or their mother again. He didn’t need that on his shoulders right now.

  “Cal, you going to be okay?” Nat asked when the Grower rolled over onto her back again.

  “I dunno,” Cal said, head rolled back again so she could look at the falling rain. “Maybe it’s because it looks like the rain is falling up from here, but I think I’m seeing things.”

  “Seeing…?” Nat started, mind immediately going to the Bonder group that should be on the way. Then again, if it was Bonders, Cal would’ve said she was seeing people. Enemies?

  “Yeah,” Cal said. “It looks like a sunrise coming over the horizon, but that can’t be right? We shouldn’t be seeing the sun for a long time yet.”

  “The sun?” Milly said, looking over at Nat, then both of them looked to the entrance of the cave.

  Heaving herself upright—stomach only flip-flopping a little—Nat walked over to help Milly up, before the two of them went to stand by Cal.

  “Where are you seeing the sun?” Milly said, though Nat didn’t need to ask the question.

  Cal’s arm lifted until she pointed above her horizontal head. “There. See?”

  Finally, Milly’s eyes traced the line of Cal’s finger to find what Nat stared wide-eyed at.

  The border of orange racing across the horizon, like the clouds themselves were igniting. Deep reds pulsed within the storm, along with flashes of oranges and yellows that came with the deep KA-THOOMs of thunder, while even the falling rain fell in incendiary lines of dripping flame.

  “… the hell?” Nat breathed, spotting a shape moving through the rain ahead of the burning storm.

  Much like the three women hidden in the cave from the rain, the Enemy didn’t seem to know what to make of the encroaching storm. Unlike the women, it sat exposed to what was coming, instead of safely hidden away. When the first drops of molten reached a probing tentacle, a series of sizzles and a pained cry echoed across the sky. By then, though, it was too late, even for the powerful creature.

  The storm-line overtook the squid in that single second, dousing it in flaming rain. All at once, the creature ignited like a bonfire, its limbs flailing even as it burned and fell from the sky toward the distant ground.

  Even as Nat watched the squid fall—dead long before it even struck—that wasn’t what held her attention. No, it was something else within the energy of the storm. Something familiar. Something comforting, like a pair of arms hugging her protectively.

  Or the unbelievably soft fabric of the coat those arms were in.

  Before she knew it, tears ran across her cheeks, her mouth opening.

  “Hiral,” Milly said before Nat could. “He made it back.”

  Like they coordinated it, the two sisters lunged at each other, wrapping arms around the other, even as they watched the sky burn.

  ***

  Gauto sat on the rock near the entrance of Trevallen, quickly glancing at his party’s tank and companion. Raff and Donny were back on their feet, though the tortoise companion was definitely having a tougher time of it.

  “Higher endurance does not seem to affect recovery time,” he said aloud at the same time he jotted the record down in his notebook. Whatever had hit them all, neither attributes nor Rank positively or negatively impacted how seriously somebody was debilitated. According to what the others said over their party chat—and the sounds some of them made—the overall debuff, if that was even what it was, reached far into the depths of the underground city.

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  Considering the thousands of new, unexpected visitors, Gauto could only imagine how much of a mess it was down there. Then again, as soon as he’d realized where the source of the symptoms were coming from—wherever Hiral was—he knew he needed to get topside. It helped one of the new arrivals—Colos—had mentioned Hiral’s raid group may or may not be following them through that particular teleportation tunnel. And, that Hiral was working on getting Genesis… out of a dungeon.

  A dungeon! It explained so much. Tied up holes in several of his theories. And, it made Gauto sure the new race coming through an unexpected portal—led by Hiral’s Soul Fragment Rendition—was only the beginning. Something big was about to happen to this world, and Gauto wanted… no, needed to see it firsthand.

  Knowing Hiral—and Gauto very much did know Hiral—something dramatic was bound to happen. He just didn’t expect it would make him vomit up everything he’d eaten for the last twelve years. Really, that had been an illogical volume. He almost measured it, though just one look at the small lake of it had his stomach turning again. Just this one time, he could forget rigorous science. If he needed to, he could… estimate.

  Just thinking the word almost made him throw up again.

  “That… wasn’t fun,” Raff said, kneeling beside his companion and rubbing the back of the big tortoise’s head. “Any idea what it was?”

  “We exited the dungeon portal, is my assumption,” Gauto said. “Hiral did it.”

  “You think your friend caused that?”

  “Most definitely,” Gauto said. “He may have gotten help.”

  “May have?” Raff said, shaking his head and looking at Donny. “He talks about a single guy moving an entire planet, and he says he may have gotten help. Like it was just as reasonable he did it by himself.”

  Snort.

  “No, I don’t think he’ll get you a new lunch to make up for what you lost.”

  “I have some sandwiches in my Interspatial Ring,” Gauto said.

  Snort.

  “Donny says the last sandwich you had stored in your ring was older than he was. And that was before you put it in your ring. He doesn’t want to throw up again.”

  “Rude,” Gauto said. “And that was an accident. The sandwich was part of a study on the progress of a particular fungus. I simply grabbed the wrong one.”

  “And you could grab the wrong one again.”

  “I could be more careful.”

  “Could be. You could also…”

  “Do you see that?” Gauto interrupted, standing up—and only wobbling slightly—before pointing in the distance. “Is the sky on fire?”

  Raff turned to look where Gauto gestured. He rubbed his eyes. Twice. “Either it is, or that shake-up scrambled both our brains pretty badly.

  Snort.

  “Okay, that was rude too.”

  Gauto wasn’t listening to the back and forth anymore, though, his hand moving rapidly as he jotted down his observations. Speed was much harder to measure at the distance. What looked slow could actually be S-Rank speed. Especially considering it was lighting across the sky at a noticeable clip. And, from the once-invisible, burning bodies joining the rain, it was even faster than the squids.

  “Maybe we should be getting inside?” Raff said, backing toward the tunnel entrance. Donny was well ahead of him. Fast for a tortoise.

  “No need,” Gauto said, flicking his pencil straight ahead. “The flaming rain doesn’t reach the ground. It’s turning back to normal water long before it hits… well, anything other than a squid. Interesting. Somehow, it’s keyed to only strike the Enemy? Or, perhaps, there is a height qualifier. Raff, I need to get further down the canyon to get a better look at the surrounding area.”

  “No rain for miles, thanks to the Ashfather,” Raff said, but gestured to Donny, and the pair of them started down the road away from the city entrance. There were still some Cinder-Blokes around—though not nearly as many, thanks to the vigorous farming from Milich and his group—and it was better to be safe than sorry. “Looks pretty clear. The blockheads must not like what’s going on up there any more than the squids.”

  “It is oddly quietly,” Gauto said. “Even considering how much farming Milich and his group have been putting in. Lucky for us. Now, let’s see…” he trailed off, turning to look at the top of the giant tree glowing with purple flames towering above the underground city of Trevallen. Much like how Grandfather protected Fallen Reach from the rain, this giant—and slightly-possessed-by-demons—tree offered a similar shield. Though it didn’t have the same range, it was enough to keep the city free from the dirty storms the Enemy needed.

  As usual, no storm clouds gathered directly above Gauto, and he continued turning until he could look downslope to where the rain hit the ground. The scratching of his pencil on his notebook sped up while he stared and squinted. I need to put more points in attunement. Still, even with his modest investment in the attribute, it was enough to be sure.

  The fiery rain didn’t reach the ground. He didn’t need to worry about the entire world being set aflame by…

  A burning squid crashed to the ground after its several-mile drop, the impact geysering flaming bits in all directions. Flaming bits that immediately spread flickering fire around ground-zero. That was… inconvenient.

  Except…

  “Raff, can you see where that Enemy came down?” Gauto asked his party’s tank.

  “I can barely see Donny when he’s right in front of me,” Raff said dryly. “If you want anything other than ‘It’s on fire’, I’m not going to help much.”

  Snort.

  “No, we can’t have a barbecue.”

  “Maybe we should get closer…” Gauto started, until a second burning squid came down like a meteor. From the size of the thing, it had to be at least B-Rank—tentacles over a hundred feet long—and Gauto felt the ground quiver from the landing. Looking up, it was only one of many incendiary bodies falling like shooting stars. “Perhaps not,” he amended.

  Resolved not to risk a squid dropping on his head, Gauto instead activated a few quick buffs which would offer modest increases to his stats. Namely Atn. It was just barely enough to confirm what he’d thought he’d seen.

  “The fire isn’t destroying anything,” he said to Raff, voice quiet in amazement. “In fact, it’s the opposite. Where the flames pass, new life is growing at an accelerated rate. It’s as if…”

  He cut off again as something new joined the bizarre event. A beam of sunlight streaming through the still-burning storm cloud to land perfectly on each of the squid-bonfires. Looking straight up, Gauto established it was in fact still nighttime, the dark sky, filled with stars and a moon shining directly over the Ashfather.

  “Yes, before you ask,” Raff said. “I see it too.”

  “Could you ask Milich if Raylina is around?” Gauto said, referring to the Mecha-Armor Maker who had several abilities that improved her senses. “I need a second opinion.

  “Are those flaming lilies growing in the sunlight out of the fallen squids?”

  ***

  Favela held her root-grown doll in black cloth close to her as she sat there, sunlight streaming down from above. Something weird had happened, making her tummy feel like it wanted out. Luckily, she had her good luck dolls with her, and she hugged them close to her until the bad feeling went away. The two dolls were good like that.

  Legs a little shaky, Favela stood up, and looked out into the blue sky, past fences that made sure she didn’t get too close to the edge. Not that she needed them. Going over the edge once was more than enough.

  Until she was older. She’d made Dad promise he’d teach her how to jump like him and Mom did. Just thinking about her mother had the girl looking at the doll in her other hand. With pieces of white chitin from the young, molting insects on the island, tied to the roots, it looked just like her mother did.

  Except for the head. She couldn’t get the helmet quite right. That was okay, though. Her mom’s eight, red eyes were kind of scary. Not that she’d say anything. She was a big girl now. Big girls didn’t get scared anymore.

  “Do big girls play with dolls?” she asked the pair in her hands quietly. She’d given most of her collection to Viddy three houses over, but she couldn’t let these two go. She missed her mother too much to leave that doll anywhere out of her sight.

  As for the one of Hiral? Since she was going to marry him when she was older, it was okay to keep that one too, right? Her dad didn’t seem as excited about that idea as she was, but Mom would make him listen. She always did.

  Until the wedding, she’d keep the doll close to…

  Favela forgot about the doll as she stepped closer to the fence. Stopping nearly five feet back—not because she was scared, no, she was being responsible—she squinted at the distant storm wall. She’d been looking at it her whole life, more when mom was gone, and it’d always been an ugly, dark grey. The flashes of lightning inside were pretty sometimes, but it was a bad place.

  She still had nightmares sometimes about when the storm had reached them. How it had banged their shutters against their walls. The heavy rain. The screaming…

  Favela shook her head and brought her two dolls up to her cheeks. As soon as she felt them, the pounding in her chest slowed down, and she sniffled the snot back into her nose. Big girls didn’t start crying in the middle of the day. Even if they had bad memories.

  “I have you two keeping me safe,” she told herself and her dolls. “Thank you.”

  Of course the dolls didn’t respond. Dolls didn’t talk, after all. Big girls knew that.

  Still, she wished she could hear her mother’s voice again soon. And get one of her hugs. Dad hugged pretty well, but he didn’t rub the back of her head the right way. She’d tried teaching him. He just couldn’t do it. More proof girls were better than boys.

  Especially Viddy’s big brother, Reth. He pinched her whenever they played together. Okay, he also shared his candy with her sometimes, so that wasn’t too bad.

  “What is that?” a nearby voice said, snapping Favela out of her own thoughts, and back to what had gotten her attention before. Looking at the storm clouds now, where she’d thought she’d seen small fires burning in the wall storm wall, her eyes opened wide.

  It wasn’t just small fires—or her imagination—the entire storm wall burned.

  “It’s on the other side as well!” another adult said, pointing in the opposite direction.

  Spinning slowly in place, Favela’s hands dropped to her sides as she saw it. The storm circling them—in all directions—was on fire.

  Was this… a new attack? Another nightmare? She was awake, wasn’t she? Why…?

  “Favela, there you are!” her dad said, rushing over and scooping her up into his arms. At his touch, she wrapped her arms and legs around him, pulling herself as close to him as possible.

  “Dad, what’s happening?” Favela said. “I’m… scared.”

  “Oh, darling, you don’t need to be scared,” Dad said.

  “Because I’m a big girl?” she asked, head buried in his neck and her eyes closed.

  “Well, that’s part of it, of course,” Dad said, bouncing her a little in his arms. “But, more because that’s not bad fire.”

  “Not… bad?” she asked, peeking out from his neck to look at the red circling around them.

  “You’re not old enough yet, so it’s okay you didn’t notice,” Dad said. “That, though? I can feel it from here. That’s your aunt’s fire. That’s Seena. And she would never do anything to hurt us. Or you.”

  “That’s… auntie Seena?”

  “Yup,” Dad said, giving Favela another gentle bounce.

  “Is Mom with her?”

  “I…” Dad started, then smiled brightly at her. “I’m sure she is. We’ll see them soon.”

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