The fearsome chittering and scurrying from before resumed at an ear-splitting pitch, as the foul being raised both arms to the metal ceiling above. This betrayal came as little surprise to the others, but Nash looked to Azervel in shock, having so eagerly accepted his assurances just moments before. The floor shook while holes in the walls above the lava pit opened. From every new passage sprang forth countless hordes of the same kind of creature Kory had skewered earlier. The light of the molten rock revealed their hideous forms. Each was about the size of a person, with six legs, unsettling beige flesh, and stringy hair that obscured the wide, compartmented eyes on their beady heads. Below the eyes, gaping jaws full of rows upon rows of jagged teeth gnashed in unison as the swarm let forth a collective, ravenous snarl. They clustered above on the bottom of the geothermal reservoir and began to eat the metal.

  “It will all be over soon. The choice is yours,” said Azervel, with the voice of a haunted multitude.

  “There never was any Vercoden was there, you bastard?” Greg shouted, venturing closer to the ledge to accost the monster properly.

  “Don’t do anything stupid, Greg!” Kory called over the maddening din of metal being consumed above them.

  “He already has!” Azervel shot his hand forward and gripped the collar of Greg’s jumpsuit, dangling him above the lava with an unnerving strength, as if the six-and-a-half-foot Earthling was made of paper. He turned to Nash and spoke again, almost as tenderly as before. “He’s had his time in the sun, but the rest of you can save yourselves. What say you, oh peak of existence?”

  “Why are you doing this?” Nash’s eyes filled with tears and her face dripped with sweat from the heat of the pit.

  Her impassioned plea was interrupted when Mia lunged forth and attempted to grab Greg, nearly taking them both off the edge. Without a second thought, Nash snapped out of her despair and telekinetically held them both in the safety of her force-field, before flinging them backward out of harm’s way. Mia and Greg landed with a thud behind the others, clearing the way for Zol’s attack. He launched a bolt of lightning more powerful than any he’d ever conjured before directly at Azervel, only to have it reflected right back at himself with a flick of his target’s wrist.

  “That was unwise,” Azervel taunted. “And your time for decision has passed.” Above the center of the pit, a rancid screech echoed as one of the metal-eating creatures fell to the lava below, impaled by a jet of hot water released from a freshly chewed hole in the reservoir. The puncture was the first of many. Soon the chasm was filled with the dying cries of the beasts followed by surges of water and steam.

  Kory led the next assault. She raised her electrified epee high and lunged at the antagonist. This move proved to be nearly fatal, as he grabbed the blade of her sword and hurled it with her still clinging to it into the pit. She saw the ancient madness burning in his eyes as he spun her around to cast her to her doom. But Kory wasn’t done yet. She let the voltage amplify and flow through her, suspending her above the lava, and causing even greater devastation amidst the falling creatures and pillars of water. Back on the cliff’s edge, she saw Zol and Mia, enveloped with power themselves, ready to join her in the next volley. They nearly rushed at Azervel once more when Nash’s voice resounded through the chaos.

  “On me! Let’s GO!” She commanded as she pulled everyone into her protective field. With a renewed clarity, she remembered the lost Iolite crew from decades before, and resolved not to let her friends meet the same fate. The juice of fighting this demon wasn’t worth the squeeze, leaving evacuation as the only option. She quickly enclosed them all within the glowing lilac bubble and carried them as one mass upward through the tunnels. Nash didn’t turn around to see if Azervel would retaliate, but she did hear his final warning.

  “You will regret this!” His voice rang out from the air itself, surrounding them as they rose through the passages. Higher and higher they flew, making more than a few wrong turns as the cavern walls began to shift around them. From behind they felt the air grow hotter and thicker, indicating the vile beasts’ complete destruction of the reservoir. Once they had made it out of the natural caves and into the manmade chambers, Nash dropped the field and stopped to catch her breath. It was no small feat to haul four extra people up from the abyss.

  “You three are on your own from here,” she gasped, looking towards the Toravai. “Never mind what the current damages; this place is done.”

  “Say less,” Kory replied as she charged up to face what came next. Zol and Mia followed suit. Ahead of them lay a poorly lit corridor with doors lining each wall. Out of each opening spilled the remaining hordes of man-sized, metal eating termites. Their abnormally large eyes and putrid teeth were even more hideous up close in the light of the failing fluorescents. Kory extended her sword and flew like a spiral through the hallway. The others tailed in her wake, annihilating, or at least vanishing the rest of the swarm. Instead of stopping at the end of the hallway, the three continued on, blazing a trail of electric destruction through the ancient mine. Nash watched them leave, then turned to Greg, whose eyes were fixed on the dust rushing forth from the collapsing passages behind them.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “We better go catch them,” she said. Taking a deep breath, she lifted herself and Greg and flew in the direction of their friends. As they glided over the mangled corpses of the creatures, the Human couldn’t help but notice that whatever flesh wasn’t scorched had an unsettling non-insectoid quality, despite anatomy that would indicate otherwise. After rounding a corner, they had to stop short as their enlightened friends surged past from another direction.

  “Wrong turn!” Mia called, heading up the rear. Nash and Greg, nearly fried by their passing, almost smiled in spite of the madness. Before long, the five managed to extricate themselves from the tangled network, narrowly escaping entombment as the whole system caved in from the bottom up. Unfortunately, the refinery and shipping facility were next to crumble, as the mine itself had been their foundation. When at last they arrived back at the loading bays through which they’d entered, their power was fading fast under the crushing weight of exertion. So, like their Human companion, they ran breathlessly past the lifeless conveyors and broken glass.

  Before them lay the black sky, the thinning air, and the safety of the Stardust that would carry them away from this magnificent blunder. It wasn’t until they nearly reached the ruined entryway that they heard his voice again, thundering from high above them. “Are you obliged to wallow in filth, oh gem of the heavens? Or shall you trace the paths of the stars at my side?”

  “Keep running!” Kory shouted to the rest.

  “Don’t look back!” Greg called over his shoulder.

  “Where did she go!?” Zol thundered, stopping suddenly to look up at the rusted pylons and tattered banners. The others slid to a halt, noticing as he did that Nash was gone. From behind the flailing strips of canvas, he appeared, levitating in the air with her in his arms.

  “I won’t help you,” she cried meekly, still weak under the power of his gaze and at least half-convinced by his vision.

  “Let them perish,” he implored, drawing her nearer to him. “Is your life not worth a thousand of theirs? I will prove all this to you and more.” He brushed a stony hand over her cheek. She closed her eyes tightly and refused to answer him as tears streamed down her face.

  On the trembling ground below, Zol spoke to Kory through ragged breath. The atmosphere waned faster than any of them imagined it would. “Take the shot. I’ll catch her.”

  Azervel’s tender moment of distraction left the door open to a well-aimed bolt of lightning that cracked through the air and struck him square in the head. The attack caught him off-guard. He dropped his precious little ingenue and roared in anger at his lowly assailants. As planned, Zol caught Nash in his arms before sprinting madly out of the complex with Kory, Mia, and Greg. This time, no one looked back, though they felt the rush and saw the clouds of dust chasing them as the entire factory collapsed to the ground with a thunderous groan. Back at the shore of the ink-black sea, the water vibrated with uncertainty, suggesting it would soon evaporate and follow the air that once enclosed it into the depths of space.

  Blue-lipped and half-mad, Greg reached the craft first. Once inside, he took the pilot’s seat and began the emergency takeoff sequence to the best of his knowledge. Soon after, Mia bolted in, followed by Kory, then Zol, who still carried the stunned Nash. The drop had been fifty yards or more, and she was not prepared for the sudden shock that disabled her kidnapper. Zol sat her in one of the passenger seats and Kory rushed to help strap her in.

  “I’m shutting the main door now, everybody sit down!” Greg called over his shoulder. Just before the hatch sealed with a final hiss, he heard one last dreadful howl echo from the crumbled heap outside, as if Azervel was still right beside them.

  “YOU WILL FAIL.”

  #

  High above the surface of their most confounding destination to date, Greg prepared to jump the Stardust a short distance away to Cuanerel, the nearest civilized world. At the start of this endeavor, he’d wished they could have gone there first, but as he thought about it more, he was grateful to have the tropical stopover on the back end. “Lord knows we need it now more than we did.” He mused as Mia joined him in the empty co-pilot’s chair. “You don’t have to sit here if it’s not comfortable,” he muttered, still distracted with the vessel’s function. “This thing barely needs a real pilot, much less another one.”

  “She’s not going to like you messing with all of her settings,” Mia turned her scornful gaze from him back to the others.

  “I don’t see what choice we had,” Greg said, looking behind him to see what went on. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Nash as a passenger of her own ship before. Still limp and nearly catatonic, she was strapped into a seat, looking numbly out the window. Kory knelt by her side, urging her in hushed whispers to drink from the cup of water she held to her face. In the seat just across the aisle, Zol looked on with greater concern than they’d ever seen him muster before. “Kory, can you buckle in, please?” Greg asked as gently as possible. “We’re making the jump now. It’s alright, she’ll drink when she wants to.” He reassured, seeing the sorrow in Kory’s face as she withdrew the cup and took her place behind her friend. Once he heard the click of the harness, he turned his eyes once more to Mia, then to the stars, pushing the lever at his side forward. Again, they entered the comfort and safety of the ceaseless void, the space between time, leaving the ruined world and its ominous implications behind.