The man’s appearance had changed, his vibrant greenish-yellow glow dimming to reveal black flesh, the color of burned plastic, beneath. His pupils were the only part that continued to glow.

  I began advancing, finishing my performance of Kinetic Overload and sending the enchantment into Katarina at the same time Encore finished his altered rendition of Radiant Winds. He fired eight small purple wisps of glowing light towards the man, whose nameplate read ‘Asher, The Corrupted’.

  Asher moved, shockingly fast for his size, fists curled tight with a boxer’s grace, throwing a series of punches that Katarina wove around.

  Encore’s bolts hit him and he hesitated, his eyes momentarily losing focus.

  Katarina took advantage of the opening by twisting in a quick circle, building momentum, and kicking him in the ribs. She detonated a charge of explosive energy, pirouetting around from the impact and impacting his other ribs from the opposite direction in less than a second. She shifted with the momentum, flipping in the air and bringing the exposed blade of her prosthetic leg sweeping in a brutal downward swipe.

  He recovered from Encore’s befuddlement, raising an arm to block the descending blade. It sank into his skin a few inches, but he shoved her back.

  A ball of tension began writhing in my stomach. The way he effortlessly seemed to be shrugging off Katarina’s attacks triggered a primal fear deep within me. This man was dangerous. I began performing Kinetic Overload again. Encore joined me, performing his own rendition, after swiftly transforming back to his fox form.

  Katarina redirected a series of punches with expertly placed arms, angled to send the blows wide. She ducked below a punch, driving a fist into his stomach and detonating the third charge of Kinetic Overload into his navel.

  He made a deep oomph and doubled over. She met his lowering face with a knee, then jumped back and whipped the blade of Wind’s Edge towards his lowered head. It sliced into his forehead, sparking off of his skull beneath.

  Asher roared, rushing towards Katarina as brown blood spouted from the wound and coated his face. She easily evaded his uncoordinated attack, pivoting around the grab with two quick steps.

  He turned his malicious gaze towards me and charged in my direction. My performance came to an abrupt end as I dove to the side, narrowly avoiding a wide punch. I rolled with the fall, turning and pushing off of the ground a second before his fist slammed into the desert sand where I had been. I sprinted away and he went to give chase, but Katarina intercepted his advance with a series of kicks and punches. I began performing Kinetic Overload.

  “I’m your opponent, coward,” she taunted.

  He rumbled a growl in response, throwing a jab. She ducked below, driving a fist into his ribs and dashing around, flanking him.

  Her bladed prosthetic flashed out, digging into the flesh behind his left leg. More of the dark brown blood began pouring from the newest wound. He twisted, unimpeded by the wound, and swung a backhanded fist towards her. Hope began replacing the dull sense of dread in my heart as she dodged his strikes, landing numerous of her own.

  Katarina shifted, ready to evade the blow, but it was a feint. She recognized it too late and the actual attack, an awkward back kick, hit her in the hip and torso. Despite the odd positioning of his body, she went flying like a ragdoll across the hot desert sand from the impact. Her health plummeted to the red, flashing with warning, as she rolled across the terrain.

  My heart dropped, plummeting down below my stomach and into an abyss deep within. I released the Radiant Winds stored within my lute, sending them to Katarina. Asher was faster, sending great gouts of sand spraying behind each step as he ran at her.

  Katarina’s health began climbing back up, likely from consuming a health potion. She rolled with the impact, managing to arrest control in the last second, and flowed around Asher’s descending fist like a leaf on the breeze.

  All ten of my radiant orbs sank into her back, assisting the health potion and sending her health racing back up. She shifted, stumbled for a moment, and jumped back a few times, distancing herself from Asher. Encore finished his rendition of Kinetic Overload a few seconds before me, sending the explosive magic into her. Mine followed shortly after. I immediately began another performance.

  She made a quick, small hop with her leg, detonating a charge and using it to dodge Asher’s advance. She shifted, kicking off a wall of solid air to change directions and landing a heavy shin-kick against his lower back.

  Endorphins surged as I watched her land a series of powerful blows, dodging his strikes. Her movements weren’t as fluid as usual, I could tell she was still suffering from overusing chi, but she managed to hold her own against Archer.

  His brown blood sprayed out with each impact, covering Katarina and the sand that surrounded them.

  “NESSA!” He screamed. It didn’t make sense to me, was he calling a person’s name? Some weird, desert demon’s battle cry? Whatever the reason, the action seemed to bolster him, recovering his resolve from the series of devastating impacts Katarina had landed.

  He brought his arms up in a defensive gesture, weaving in a semi-successful attempt to avoid the worst of her barrage. I was about halfway through another performance of Kinetic Overload, Encore keeping up with a performance of his own.

  Asher’s hand shot out, quick as a loosed bolt, and grabbed Katarina’s extended fist. She responded immediately, driving a punch into his elbow and detonating an explosive charge. He grunted, releasing her arm, but the blow didn’t appear to have done lasting damage to his arm.

  She jumped, flashing her leg out and kicking him in the chest, detonating a charge and sending herself in a backflip just outside of his grasping hands.

  Stolen story; please report.

  They danced through the desert, Katarina elegantly dodging his thrown punches and landing several of her own. She used her last charges of Kinetic Overload to simultaneously damage and dodge, twisting around his blows with a grace that nearly distracted me from my performance.

  Encore and I topped off Katarina’s explosive charges. I was momentarily torn on what to do. She was slowing slightly, the constant dodging and fighting taxing her already overstressed body. I needed to join the fight, but knew my skill was nowhere near the two of them. Maybe I could get in behind and hold him, or stab him with my poisoned dagger—

  I shook myself free from the thoughts. “Keep sending Kinetic Overloads to her, I’m going to help her fight him,” I called to Encore.

  I shifted forms, swapping out my inventory and taking on the form of the alpha arctic kobold. Together, I was sure we could take him down. I started sprinting for them.

  Katarina pivoted, swinging her leg up and around. It descended in a brutal downward slice towards Asher’s head in a movement almost too fast for my eyes to track.

  He reached up and grabbed the blade of her leg with one hand. The gesture ground Katarina’s momentum to a halt, stopping her as surely as if she had kicked a stone wall. He gripped the blade, sharp enough to cut paper with ease, in an ebony fist covered in a multitude of tiny, fine green lines of pulsing power, and lifted.

  Katarina twisted, swinging her body around to kick at the arm holding her. She had made half the movement when he punched her with his other fist, maintaining the grip on Wind’s Edge. The impact collapsed the right side of Katarina’s body inward and sent her flying past me, back toward Abe and Sebastian. It tore the straps connecting her to the prosthetic, which Asher tossed aside casually, straightening. A small satisfied smile creased his stony demeanor.

  I yanked my head around, tracking her progress. She hit the ground hard, a cacophony of breaking bones confirming what I knew before looking at the party status screen.

  She was dead. Her health was empty, and the ten minute timer began counting down over her name.

  The world shifted. Blurred along the edges as my vision faded to red. A deep well of rage gushed upwards, overflowing, a geyser of anger that overtook my sense. A part of my mind stepped back, memories flitting through like fireflies as the larger part attacked Asher in a blood frenzy.

  A notification popped up and minimized. I barely recognized it.

  The first time I had seen her, in the Verdantbrook adventurer’s guild. Hopeful, confident, happy. A firm handshake and a smile. ‘Lute boy’.

  I screamed. It came out of my current form as a roar that tore at my throat. The training Katarina had been putting me through for the last week guided the frenzy subconsciously. I tore at Asher’s chest with a claw, rending his flesh. He lunged out at me with a punch, but I ducked it and dug a bloody furrow out of the back of his arm.

  Our time aboard the merchant vessel, fighting pirates and saving friends. ‘Lute boy’.

  Asher shifted, throwing a series of punches at me. I felt Encore’s Kinetic Overload take effect on me and met the punches with my own, detonating the explosive charges as our fists collided.

  Thunder sounded behind me, a sharp crack that echoed through the desert. I ignored it, lost to a duality of thought. Fierce rage and a stream of memories. Someone messaged me,but I shoved it away.

  Goblins on the desert road. A different desert road. In a time before the great loss. Punches and kicks. Laughter on the wind. ‘Lute boy”.

  I drove my straightened fingers into Asher’s chest, my sharp claws piercing his skin. He punched my inner arm, tearing my hand free. He followed up with a series of blows that I partially deflected, dropping my health by half. I barely noticed, lost to the rage. Consumed by the loss.

  Laughter in an elaborate inn. Friendly jokes on the road back through the desert. The night of waking nightmares, when she lost her leg. ‘Lute boy’.

  My fangs sank into Asher’s shoulder. I hadn’t thought of biting him, it just happened. A primal, deeper part of this form began taking over the waking functions as my mind drifted deeper into the memories and I continued losing myself in a duality of self. Bite. Tear. Rend. Flay. The thoughts were at once mine and belonging to another. Asher roared as I tore free a large chunk of flesh. It tasted of bile and chemicals.

  He shoved me back, throwing me several feet. Hunt. Slay the prey. Lap the blood. Kill. I rolled from the impact, spitting a chunk of flesh from my mouth and advancing on all fours.

  Strength through the sadness. Escaping the slavers. Returning to the camp. A pillar of support when all seemed lost. Shared sorrow in a small, barred room filled with water canisters. ‘Lute boy’.

  A series of blows rained upon my back and shoulders as I lunge at his stomach, tearing a great swath of flesh free. A moment of blackness as my health drops precariously close to zero, warmth as my health rises back ever so slightly. Rend. Tear. Bite.Gray loops of intestines fall from the wound I have opened in his stomach. I dig my claws in and roar. Asher shouts in return, shoving me back. Rip. Pull. Consume. I bring his insides out and litter the desert floor with them as I am thrown back.

  Another inn. More quaint. Dark eyes in a crowd. A straw hat filled with coins. A warm smile. ‘Lute boy’.

  Asher stumbled, caught himself, and stepped toward me. I howled, ripping large swaths of desert stone free with my clawed hands and feet as I advanced. He threw a punch at me. I dodged to the side, snapped down on his arm and jerked my head to the side. Kill. Blood. Feast. My body flexed, and he was pulled from his feet and thrown to the ground.

  Descent into the catacombs. A portal. A cliffside fight. A cliffside flight. Together as one. Her life, flashes of hardship accentuated by victory. The accident. A second chance. ‘Lute boy’.

  I twisted, snapping my jaws upon Asher’s arms, raised against me in defense, rending his flesh and muscle. The taste is horrible, wrong, but I don’t think about it. I tear, bite, rip, lost in a fury. He roars a challenge at my assault, kicking himself backward and away from me.

  A failure and a success. A city lost, a world saved. Long days and short nights on the mountain trail. A willow branch, wielded in jest and tutelage. Longing glances. Cliffside winks. A second flight. ‘Lute boy’.

  There is no escape. He is prey to the slaughter. Another small infusion of warmth as I am healed, but it barely registers to me. Another message appears in the chat, but it is nothing. I ignore it as I lunge forward, batting aside a pitiful attempt to kick me away. My jaws clamp around his throat and squeeze. Hot blood, poisonous blood, gushes into my mouth and down my throat. I bite harder, twisting.

  A night of privacy after a long journey. Wet hair and tears of perceived inadequacy. A strengthening of our bond. Heartfelt promises. Laughter the morning after, a white fox. ‘Lute boy’.

  My jaws cramp from the force of my bite. Flesh and bone give way beneath my jaws. Asher gurgles one last time as I tear his head free, spitting it to the side. I tear into the body, ripping it into pieces in a frenzy.

  … Tear …. Rip … Rend … Flay … Bite … More… More…

  I lift my head to the sky, howling in agony, in rage, in loss. I scream into the desert sky with all that I am, but it fails to drown out two words that echo in my mind.

  ‘Lute boy’.