A Creature from the Realm of Dream has been stalking Mikansia from the very beginning, demanding her friend Jabez's sword. When Mikansia didn't give it the sword the Creature tortured Dale, one of Mikansia's friends, to steal the sword. It then turned the sword into a weapon capable of cutting into the world of Dream. The Creature came for Mikansia and the sword, putting her allies to sleep, backing itself up with a dragon. Mikansia has slain the Creature from Dream.
The Drones were coming. Nomi was bleeding out. Fish was being slaughtered by the real dragon. Mikansia pushed the carcass of The Creature from Dream off of her.
Yngvar appeared next to Mikansia. She jumped. Yngvar looked stressed. "Grab Fish, Nomi, and whoever else and get over to the Lone Keep, now! It's vulnerable and won't stay that way for long.
Mikansia gaped.
Yngvar smiled. "Akseli and Makirta send their love."
Mikansia's jaw worked. Her eyes moved elsewhere.
"Go! Fish needs you! Hand me Nomi, so I can heal her."
The buzzing of the drones announced their arrival. Mikansia threw Nomi through the hole and began her song of mending, so the hole in Dream could be closed. The soothing song closed the hole, but not in time. A buzzing insect the size of a horse blazed out the hole as it closed. Mikansia changed keys and began to sing the low and angry Song of the Sword. The drone dove at her with a harpoon-sized stinger. Mikansia dove to the side and cut the gigantic insect in half with a single swing. Ensio, Dale, Decima, Ember, and little Simone began to stir, groaning as they awakened from the sleep forced upon them by the Creature Mikansia had killed.
The whole earth shook as Fish was thrown bodily into the city of Vigilance, knocking over the front wall as if it was tissue paper. The hurricane that was the real dragon coming in for the kill wrenched trees out of the ground, sending them spinning down the mountainside. Mikansia, Ensio, and Dale started to run, with Mikansia promising to explain everything later. They ran as fast as they could. Mikansia needed Fish to live. How else could they take down the Keep?
The rounded the corner to complete and utter desolation. Buildings were strewn apart like toy blocks. Fish lay in the remains of a flaming structure. His pitiful cries rocked the ground. The glowing sword of Mikansia caught the dragon's eye as they came into view.
The dragon took a quick breath.
The inferno that roared over Mikansia's head blew through rubble, shaking the foundations of the earth. Mikansia's white hair caught alight, as did her clothes. It felt like the dragon had summoned the apocalypse itself. The dragon grunted with exertion as the last bits of flame poured out of his mouth. Mikansia quickly put out the flames and looked to her right and left for Ensio and Dale.
She was in a world of ash.
Mikansia pushed the storm back down and stood up. The dragon was staring at her. Its eyes... nothing had more purpose. More depth. Knowledge. Attention. Mikansia needed to look away. She had to. She could not. She had to. Even if it was just a little bit.
The dragon's chuckle was an earthquake. Its footsteps knocked over the rickety structures around her. By the time it had gotten to Mikansia she thought the whole city would have collapsed. Her legs ached from the effort of standing. Her brain was scrambled. "Little one. Very, very little one" boomed the dragon. "Give me the sword."
Gritting her teeth, Mikansia began to hum. It turned to song. Her sword glowed even brighter. The dragon chuckled as Mikansia sang the Song of the Sword into its face, her voice swallowed up in the rumbling amusement of the force of nature before her. Every last part of her body hurt. Her knuckles, white with the effort it took to hold onto the sword, nevermind her knocking knees. Every last cell in her body wanted to just stay in the dragon's eyes, to give over the sword, to just lie down and die already.
Move.
Mikansia ducked, slamming the rainbow blade under the dragon, opening an enormous portal beneath it. It dropped above an open ocean of horrors. Mikansia transitioned into the Song of Mending, closing the portal on a pillar of hellfire.
Without pausing Mikansia ran over to Fish and cut a portal to Nomi, who was waiting in Dream. Yngvar had healed her with his essence, the same way he'd healed Dale before.
Dale was dead.
So was Ensio
No time to think about that. Move.
Nomi was holding Fish and would not shut up. "FISH! NO! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU??" Mikansia's stomach twisted. This was going nowhere, what with Nomi screaming so.
Yngvar was furious. "You dropped a dragon into Dream???? Of all places?? One of the most powerful beings in all of existence and you dropped it here? Where it can do the most damage?'
"Oh please, what was I supposed to do?? It was about to kill me and take the sword! What other choice did I have? A fat lot of help I had in making that decision at the time!" Mikansia only narrowly avoided rolling her eyes at Yngvar.
Yngvar paused and took a deep breath. "We'll just have to hope the Drones bring it down. We don't have time. What a mess!"
Nomi took a second to stop crying and came up to Mikansia. "Thank you. SO. MUCH. Fish means everything to me. Everything. Everything. To me."
Mikansia turned away, seething. "Oh, don't thank me. Our best bet at taking out the Keep is gone now, because your precious Fish couldn't handle himself!"
Nomi grabbed Mikansia's shoulder. "Hey, what was that??"
Mikansia whirled around, trying to throw Nomi over her shoulder. But Nomi stopped the throw right in its tracks, grabbing Mikansia by the other shoulder. "You really don't get it, do you? So what if Fish can't help us? You saved him! You did good! After everything that's happened, after all the things that have gone wrong, isn't it enough to just save. One. Just one. Person?"
Mikansia shrugged. "Doesn't help us achieve our goal."
A bitter laugh was all she got back in response. "Oh, I get it!" Nomi pretended to rub an eye. "Oh boo-hoo, woe is me! I lost my daddy figure! So I'm going to be all angsty and a total bitch! That'll show everyone I can't be messed with! Boo-hoo, I'll never get hurt again! Please oh please, grow up."
Mikansia waited.
"Tough shit! Bad shit happens. Make some good out of it! And, like it or not, that's exactly what you did. Gah, it's bad when dark elves have a better outlook on life than you!"
"... you done?"
Nomi took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm done. Let's go kill these bastards. But first? We need to hide Fish somewhere. The Drones will eat Fish before he's done healing. Decima can take care of him."
After they hid Fish in a nearby glade Mikansia went to find Decima.
She found Ember instead.
Who feel to her knees, shrieking. Because she didn't see Dale, her husband. She'd been looking for him everywhere and the fact that he wasn't standing with Mikansia, right there and then, told her everything she needed to know. And Mikansia's twinge of guilt was all that Ember needed to confirm her suspicions. She screeched into the heavens, hands grabbing at the dirt in front of her. Mikansia didn't move.
"Where are my husband and son?" said a soft voice behind her. Ember's screaming was all that was heard. "Where are my husband and son?" Decima repeated.
"We ran into the dragon unexpectedly. They didn't make it."
Decima stared at Mikansia a moment.
And then hugged her.
Mikansia stiffened. Decima smacked her on the back of the head and kept hugging her. "I'm proud of you. I'm proud of how they went. They were fighting the good fight. Thank you for being with them as they did that."
Mikansia pulled back. "We had to hide Fish. He's going to need a lot of help." She described to Decima where Fish was. Decima nodded.
As Decima turned to leave, for one fraction of a second, the mask dropped. Her shoulders slumped, her eyes glazed. She looked up, with a stare that was beyond weariness. "Please let me me know when you destroy that wretched keep."
"You won't see me if I fail."
"That makes sense to me." Decima walked over to her daughter-in-law and hugged the sobbing sixteen year old to her chest.
Mikansia turned to leave, cleaving another hole into Dream.
"Mama, what's wrong?" It was little Simone, Dale and Ember's three year old daughter.
The portal to Dream closed behind Mikansia with the Song of Mending before she could hear an answer.
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