Justus was relieved to find the guidance stone untampered with, for the most part. He was worried that Katherine might have tried something stupid. If she had, he wasn’t sure what he would have done. He’d only killed two people in his life, and, though he was willing to, he’d rather not add a third to that list.

  He looked over his guidestone’s status. The settings were unchanged, and he still had all 2835 of his items. There were still five notifications. No new ones since he’d arrived on the planet, so he ignored them.

  Next he went to his statistics page and took a mental note of important numbers. The gravity of the planet, his latest scan’s mass result, and other important information. He’d long ago mesmerized his own planet’s gravity, which he needed for some of the spells Boris had taught him. This planet’s gravity felt similar, but even a small mistake there could have cascading effects on his spells.

  Finally, he went through Katherine’s user profile. She had calibrated herself, but based on the results listed, she would need his approval to advance.

  That wasn’t going to happen.

  Justus wasn’t a hero. He wasn’t her protector, or Simon’s. He was only a Jade stuck on another planet. He didn’t have the time, power, or experience to watch over or train two unranked novices, especially not when he was struggling to come to grips with this crazy place.

  Finding out about these heroes was a shock. If there were Spirit Artists here, then that was a foundation he could use to start trying to figure out how to get home. But these superheroes weren’t Spirit Artists. They used Spirit, but that didn’t make them Spirit Artists. The two he’d seen were strong, stronger than himself, but they weren’t as skilled as they should be. It was evident in the way they used their Spirit. It was unrefined and brutal.

  His master had been a brute-type Spirit Artist. He used self-enhancement and generally straightforward skills that required little strategy. That’s what it seemed like to those who didn’t look close enough. In reality, Boris used his skills expertly to make each and every use of his Spirit as efficient as he could in a fight.

  He didn’t see that with the two supers. He’d reached out with his Spirit and felt theirs. Their Spirits had been Peak Sapphire in strength, but strength alone. They were unrefined and bloated. When they used their skills, it seemed less like they were channeling Spirit and more like it was being sucked out of them and hosed out into the world.

  The Spirits themselves had felt twisted. It was hard to put into words, like all things related to Spirit, but their channels had seemed mangled, as if they were cut up and stitched back together in unnatural shapes by force. He’d never sensed anything like it before.

  Maybe not all of them were like that, but those two had the same level of Spirit discipline as children. It was likely related to how damaged their Spirits felt. He wondered what these supers really were. Was it possible they had no clue what they were really doing?

  The monster issue was more pressing. The monster those two had taken out had been Low Sapphire. A monster like that usually took anywhere from ten minutes to half an hour to form. Their manifestation depended on the latent Spirit saturation of the area. For one to form in moments meant something in the city was practically soaking that space with Spirit. It meant the dire-beast would be manifesting nearby.

  Justus walked down the hall to find Simon staring at a display mounted on a wall. He didn’t own one, but he knew a few people who had what his planet called ray-displays. This one was different from the ones he was familiar with. It was incredibly large and thin, but it was the same concept. In a different situation, he’d be eager to take it apart and try to find out how it worked. Instead, he joined Simon in watching what was on the display.

  A woman was standing on a rooftop overlooking the city. That’s what it seemed at first, but she was wearing a dress and makeup and wasn’t getting wet. The lighting didn’t match up either. Her image was being overlaid onto a live video. The reporter was talking about the current situation.

  “—least two hundred confirmed sightings of appearances throughout the city. The monsters are appearing in numbers and at speeds never before seen. Some people have called in to tell us they witnessed monsters forming in as little as seconds, and our on-the-scene reporters have confirmed from hero-affiliated sources that these same monsters were Class-B threats.

  “There is little doubt left that the world’s fourth Class-S threat will soon emerge. This has caused speculation about the apparent acceleration of Class-S threats to resurface. During the Class-S crisis in Barcelona two years ago, we were told there simply wasn’t enough data to draw conclusive proof of an accelerating timeline. There seems to be no denying that there is, in fact, an increasingly shorter interval between these disasters.

  “A video is currently going viral on Super Space of an interview that was released just weeks after the Barcelona Class-S crisis. In the clip, the anonymous person being interviewed claims to have worked for the GOH, and says that he was told that officials high in the organization knew for a fact that these disasters were accelerating. If that’s true, it begs the question: Why was the public kept ignor—”

  The woman cut off her report and held a hand to one of her ears, where she wore some kind of earpiece. The image behind her shifted. It showed an aerial video of the city. The video zoomed in on a large glowing shape. The shape was amorphous, but much larger than the two monsters Justus had encountered already. As the camera focused, the woman disappeared, but her voice continued.

  “This just in, the appearance of what we believe to be the Class-S threat has begun to take form. What you are seeing is live footage from our station’s camera crew. It appeared only moments ago, but already the heroes are responding. The entire Power Force, as well as several other elite hero teams are arriving on the scene and preparing for the inevitable fight that will soon occur. The GOH is advising anyone within five miles of the intersection of Harriet Boulevard and 28th Street—” Katherine gasped at the words, “—to evacuate their homes and seek shelter. The nearby shelter underneath the Christopher Memorial Hospital is nearing capacity, but efforts are being made to accommodate anyone in the immediate danger zone.

  The woman reappeared on the screen.

  “Fortunately every Class-S threat seen so far has taken over an hour to fully appear after this first sign, but anyone in the area should evacuate to a shelter as soon as possible. Heroes are patrolling the zone, and threats are being neutralized as they appear.

  “In good news, reports of missing persons and property damage are on track to be the lowest of any recorded Class-S crisis. While this is a relief, some say it suggests that the rumors of the GOH’s knowledge of an approaching Class-S appearance could be true. This is still speculation, but if—”

  The voice cut off as Simon pressed a button. A symbol appeared that Justus wasn’t familiar with, but he pieced together that the display's audio had been muted.

  “Harriet and 28th,” Simon said, looking at Katherine. “That’s less than half a block from my apartment.”

  “Good thing you aren’t there, then,” Justus said. “Let’s get to the roof and head to that shelter.”

  “I need to get to my apartment,” Simon said, standing. He sounded urgent. “My mother is still there.”

  “How do you know that? Even if she stayed inside, she should be leaving now,” Katherine said. “Have you tried calling her?”

  Simon nodded. “Four times, while you two were in your room. She wasn’t answering. She’s… probably passed out drunk.”

  “That sucks, but it’s not my problem,” Justus said. “I said I’d get my guidestone then teleport you to a shelter. If you want to go running towards that thing, then it's your funeral. I won’t be a part of it.”

  Katherine turned to look at him, a look of disbelief and disgust clear on her face. “It’s his mother.”

  “His. Not mine. Hence, not my problem. Or yours. Let's get to the roof and leave.”

  He looked to Simon, who was doing a much better job at keeping emotion off his face.

  “You’re still welcome to join us, but having to carry one less person will make my cooldowns a lot shorter, so by all means don’t feel obliged.”

  “You can go fuck yourself, by yourself,” Katherine spat. “I’m going with Simon.”

  Justus turned to Katherine. She was glaring at him, fists clenched. Her fists were shaking slightly, but whether it was due to fear, anger, or both, he wasn’t sure.

  “Seriously? You’re going to risk your life because his mother might be in danger?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  Justus set his jaw and met her glare. It wasn’t his problem. He hardly knew these two.

  Don’t work alone. Always stay in a party. Always have an out.

  Justus hated to admit it, but these two were the only people who knew what he was and where he came from. He’d stumbled into it, but they were the closest thing to a party he had on this planet. He needed someone to help him learn about this place, so he wouldn’t make any stupid mistakes like the ones that gave him away to Simon.

  And if worse came to worst, he could always ditch them and teleport as far away as possible.

  He sighed. “Fine. We’ll go check on his mother. But we’re not wasting time.”

  He walked over to the apartment’s dinner table and grabbed a chair. He dragged it with him as he approached one of the glass walls that so many of these buildings had.

  “What are you—”

  The sound of the chair smashing against the glass interrupted Katherine’s question. The glass cracked but didn’t break. Justus grabbed the chair with both hands and tried again.

  “Are you insa—”

  This time the glass shattered. The cold stormy air blew into the room, and the sound of strong wind and pouring rain blew in with it. He used one of the broken legs of the chair to push the glass out and create a big enough space.

  “I said we’re not wasting time. Both of you get over here and grab onto me. Or are you going to complain? Is your window worth more than his mother?”

  Katherine glared at him again, but she walked over. Simon followed her.

  “Sorry,” Simon muttered.

  “It’s not your fault we’re stuck with an asshole mage.”

  Justus bit back his knee-jerk reaction to correct her. Spirit Arts weren’t magic. But this was hardly a time to revisit that conversation.

  “Just stay close and be quiet,” he said. He grabbed both of them by the shoulders, pulling them tight against him. The closer they were, the less Spirit it would take to pull them along.

  Justus prepared his skill.

  [Blink]

  Channel your Spirit to map out a path to a point in space you can see. Once activated, the space around you will be shifted to that location at near lightspeed, taking you with it.

  Cooldown will be estimated before confirmation. You may take additional mass with you, but the cost of Spirit and resulting cooldown will increase.

  Cooldown: Variable

  The world became slower. The rain that looked like a curtain of streaks became individual falling drops of water. As Justus channeled his Spirit into the spell, the guidestone’s system overlaid a visual aid into his sight. Multiple boxes with as-yet filled information appeared.

  He chose a nearby rooftop and focused on it. A faint white trail that took the shortest route to that point appeared in the world, visible only to him. The boxes to the side filled with detailed information. They told him the distance of the Blink, mass and volume he was transporting, and the mass of objects in his way. The readout was green across the board. The most important was at the bottom. The cooldown estimate was forty seconds. That was pretty long for a jump this distance, longer than he hoped, but not as long as he feared.

  Most of that cooldown was from the extra weight. A Blink of this distance alone in good weather would usually have a cooldown of a few seconds. Both Simon and Katherine were probably a lot lighter than him, but together they more than doubled his total mass. Thanks to the exponential nature of Spirit-to-energy conversion, that extra Spirit cost resulted in a cooldown over ten times longer.

  There were workarounds to that. Each modifier would be exponentially increased, and with the increased mass, those gains compounded. While that meant much longer cooldowns, it also meant he could dramatically decrease it by reducing one of the modifiers. He couldn’t change the mass of the rain in the way, and the three of them were already huddled tight together, so they wouldn’t be able to change their volume much. What he could change was the distance.

  Since the buildings were so close, they could run over to the sides and only use his Blink skill over the distance to the next roof. That would be less than a fifth of the distance of this Blink and would result in a cooldown short enough that the skill should be back up by the time they ran across the roof to the next building.

  Essentially, the best approach would be to run across the roofs and only Blink the gap between the edges.

  He confirmed the skill. The world around them flashed, and they were standing on the rooftop. He dropped the system, the cooldown timer at the corner of his vision.

  “We’ll have to wait a little over forty seconds for the next jump. From here, we’ll hop between the edges of the rooftops,” he told them.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Katherine had let go, and was looking around the roof. “We actually teleported? It didn’t feel like we moved at all. I expected to feel dizzy or something.”

  “It’s not really teleporting. It’s moving the space around us. We’re technically standing still. It’s less like we’re taking an elevator up and more like standing in a stationary elevator while the whole building moves down around us.”

  “Sounds like teleporting with extra steps,” Simon said. He began walking to one of the sides of the rooftop.

  Justus again ignored the urge to argue the point. He walked with Simon to the edge.

  “Is this the direction?”

  Simon nodded. “This is the same street. It’s not even a mile from here if we go straight.”

  Justus walked to the corner near the street and leaned out. Sure enough, he could see the manifestation from here. It looked small next to the tall buildings, but he knew the monster that would appear might be strong enough to collapse every building for half a mile around with a single attack. Even from here, and without it being formed yet, he could feel a vague uneasiness in his Spirit.

  The timer of his cooldown flashed as it reached zero. He pushed off the corner and studied the next building over. It was taller than this one but would only be a sixty-or-so-foot Blink.

  “Cooldown is up. From here on the cooldowns should be a lot faster. Once we get to the next roof, get to the other side quickly.”

  The two nodded. Once again, he pulled them close and readied the skill.

  This time he kept a hold on them as they Blinked. Once they were on the other roof, he dragged them along as he jogged the distance. The cooldown, like he guessed, was only seven seconds.

  They only paused for a few seconds on the other side before Blinking again. They repeated the process over and over, getting into a rhythm. It took them less than five minutes to get close to the manifesting monster. When they blinked onto a rooftop five buildings away from the intersection where the beast was forming, he held them back from jogging ahead.

  “Hold on,” he said, pointing above.

  It was difficult to spot, but there were heroes flying about. Most of the supers didn’t have flight, and many of the ones who did were flying below the skyline. A few were much higher up, however, getting a bird’s-eye view and probably communicating with the ones below. None had noticed the trio. Thanks to the rainstorm, their clothes were soaked and dark, and visibility was low. It helped that the heroes were scanning the streets, not the rooftops. If they got any closer, though, someone was sure to notice them.

  “We’ll teleport to your building from here.” Justus said. “It will have a much longer cooldown, but you’ll need time to go check on your mother anyway.”

  Simon nodded. “Just let me know how much time I’ll have.”

  Justus led them to the edge. Simon pointed out the building. Justus prepared to Blink and glanced at the cooldown estimate. The cooldown wasn’t as long as he feared. Only seven minutes.

  With a flash, they Blinked across the distance. Thankfully, due to how the skill warped space-time, the skill didn’t actually create light. The flash was a perceptual phenomenon, not a light-emitting one.

  To any observing heroes above, there wouldn’t be any indication of the trio’s movement, except the fact that three figures appeared out of nowhere. Unless they happened to be looking at just the right spot, it would be nearly impossible to notice without a perception ability.

  Justus was worried about that. It would make sense for the scouting heroes above to be ones with perception abilities. If one of them noticed three people seemingly teleporting onto the building near the manifesting monster, then he’d just have to deal with that. During this chaos, he doubted anyone would grill him too hard about his abilities. He could just pretend to be one of these supers.

  Simon separated the moment they appeared.

  “You two wait out here and keep an eye out. It’ll be faster if I go alone.”

  “Fine,” Justus said.

  “Are you sure?” Katherine asked.

  Simon nodded. “If something goes wrong, I don’t want you two stuck inside. Stay here where Justus can get you to safety. Like he said, it’s my problem, not yours.”

  “Okay…” Katherine said, not sounding happy about it. Justus didn’t miss how her tension seemed to ease at the idea of being able to run, though.

  Simon opened the door to the stairwell and hurried inside, leaving Justus and Katherine alone. She was still shaking a bit.

  Justus walked over to the edge and peered down. A hundred feet below, the manifesting monster glowed. Objectively speaking, it was beautiful. The air shimmered silver and pale gold where the manifesting creature was. Flickers of light, like radiant fireflies, appeared in the air around it and fell into the slowly growing silhouette.

  But Justus could sense the danger forming. This close, the effect was impossible to ignore. His Spirit was being hit with waves of anxiety and dread. It was where the beasts got their name. He glanced back to Katherine, who had joined him a few feet away in looking at the view below.

  “Do you feel it?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I felt it with the other one too. But this is way worse. What is it?”

  Justus furrowed his brow. Katherine had felt the pressure from a low-sapphire beast? Her connection to his guidestone wasn’t a fluke. She really was talented with Spirit.

  “It’s Spiritual pressure,” he explained. “Monsters are made from Spirit. Unlike humans, their Spirit pours out of them. It’s why they don’t live very long. But it also means they constantly send out waves of Spirit aura. What you’re feeling is your Spirit’s natural reaction to danger.”

  “It’s like being on the edge of a panic attack.” she said.

  “Yeah. It sucks. It’ll be worse once it’s fully formed. A Sapphire would be able to push past it, but I’m not even at Peak Jade. If that thing forms, I’m not even sure I’ll be able to run. I might pass out.”

  “And me?”

  Justus shrugged. “You’d probably pass out too. Same with Simon or any other unranked. Even though he can’t feel it, Simon’s Spirit is just as affected as yours or mine. He just wouldn’t notice anything until his Spirit was overwhelmed and caused him to lose consciousness. But we’ll be fine as long as we get some distance. The waves get exponentially weaker the further you are. For you two, as long as you’re a few hundred feet away, you should be fine. But you’ll want to be much further when this thing appears. Dire-beasts often have large area attacks that can kill half a mile away.”

  “Is that why you didn’t want to get this close?”

  Justus glanced back down at the forming beast. “Partly. A dire-beast is dangerous, but from what I’ve seen your supers should be able to handle it while I run for the hills. There’s no way in hell I’d stay here long enough if it looks like this thing is ready to manifest fully. We still have over half an hour from the looks of it. If it—”

  “This isn’t a show. What are you two doing here?”

  Justus looked up to the sky, where the unfamiliar voice came from. Her voice was smooth and confident, the type that didn’t just command respect but expected it. Katherine went stiff as the figure in the air lowered.

  The hero wore a regal red and gold outfit and a golden helmet styled like a bird. A cape billowed behind her, whipping in the stormy wind.

  She was balancing on small jets of fire from her legs and hands. It wasn’t the most efficient way to fly, but he’d seen the technique before. It used a ridiculous amount of Spirit, unless you were a fire or combustion specialist. He figured this lady must be one of those, or strong enough that she had the Spirit to spare.

  “We’re leaving soon.” Justus said.

  The super turned her attention to him. Justus felt his Spirit being examined. So some of them weren’t complete crap at Spirit control. Was that typical for stronger ones, or was she unique?

  He noticed something off as her Spirit probed his own. It was possible to get a feel for a Spirit if it scanned yours, and hers felt wrong.

  He couldn’t get a detailed sense of it, but something about her Spirit felt damaged. It was like skin marked with scar tissue. It was the same as the other two from before, but even worse. What he did get a good sense of was the sheer power of the Spirit. This woman wasn’t just strong: she was a Peak Ruby. Even on his planet, Peak Rubies were rare. There were only eight of them known in Solidusk, and less than thirty on the planet.

  “You’re a super,” she said. It wasn’t a question. For some reason, the revelation looked to upset her. “Who are you?”

  “Does it matter?” Justus asked.

  “Your core… it’s different. What class are you?”

  “Not sure. I can tell you for sure that I’m not as strong as you, though.”

  The super stared at him in silence, looking into his eyes with an intensity that freaked him out nearly as much as the monster below. She could kill him before he even registered her movements. Just as terrifying was that he knew she would perfectly recall his face. All Ruby ranks had the ability to remember every detail they’d ever sensed with flawless clarity.

  He had a feeling she was reminding herself to speak to him later. He’d wager that whatever was wrong with the Spirits of these heroes, she’d noticed his wasn’t the same. So much for staying under the radar.

  “If you aren’t affiliated with GOH then you’re still considered a normal citizen. Get to a shelter. This isn’t a show.”

  “Trust me, I’d love to. I’m only here because a friend of ours is checking on his mother. We’re leaving as soon as he comes back.”

  “We have fliers who could assist you.”

  “We’re fine, thanks. I have ways of getting around quickly.” He also didn’t trust this woman or whatever group she worked for. She could easily send for people to fly him off to be dissected or imprisoned and interrogated.

  He turned around as the sound of a door opened. Simon walked out, holding a small dog.

  “She wasn’t there, but she left our dog. Is your skill off…?” He trailed off and halted in place. His eyes went wide as he saw the figure flying above. “Holy shit, you’re Phoenix!”

  The heroine, Phoenix, nodded. She looked back to Justus. “I assume this is your friend. Whatever means you have of getting clear, you need to—” She cut off, looking up. She held a hand to her ear and spoke quietly.

  Justus couldn’t hear her over the sound of the storm, but her expression darkened. She looked back down at the three of them.

  “Get moving, now,” she commanded. The fire she summoned flared as she rocketed away. She didn’t fly back up to her patrol. She was flying away from the manifesting monster below.

  “Why is she going to the coast?” Katherine asked.

  Justus’s eyes grew wide. His eyes flashed to his cooldown. Eight seconds left. He grabbed Katherine and Simon, pulling them close.

  “We’re leaving the city. Now,” he said before they could protest.

  The number of monsters, the speed of manifesting, the heavy rain and earthquakes. The signs had been right there in front of him, but the whiplash of finding himself in another world had caused him to miss them. How the hell had he been so fucking stupid?

  He set up a route for his Blink. Forget the cooldown; he was getting as far as possible, even if it drained nearly all his Spirit. He’d Blink them a ten or so miles out, then run.

  Or… he could go alone. It would take far less Spirit. He’d be able to Blink to safety without risking draining his Spirit. His eyes glanced at the cooldown. Three seconds. Two.

  He didn’t get the chance to decide. The aura crushed him like a wrathful meteor crashing into an anthill.

  His guidance stone display flashed red. Visual glitches danced in his vision as the display was ripped apart. He hardly noticed. He fell to the ground, clutching his head and trying to shut out the pain and overwhelming sense of doom. Not a dire-beast. This was worse.

  Don’t fight the pressure. Let it wash over you. Accept it. If you spend all your energy fighting it, you won’t have any energy to overcome it. Accept the fear. Accept your death. That’s the only way you’ll be able to live.

  The voice of his mentor spoke from a memory. He wished he could rip it from his head. Accept his death? He’d done that before, not even two orbits ago. It hadn’t done a damn thing. Instead, he’d been thrown into some insane world full of idiots who didn’t even understand the powers they had.

  No. He wouldn’t accept his death. He’d never be the one to accept death. He wouldn’t be Mom. He wouldn’t be Dad. And he sure as shit would never be Boris. He would fight, and run, and steal, and lie, and kill if he had to. But he wouldn’t die. He wouldn’t.

  He opened his eyes. His fingers were bleeding from clawing at the concrete beneath them. Blood was pooling in trails even as the rain washed it away. He had no clue how he was able to push through the unbearable weight of the Spirit that drenched the space around him, but he didn’t stop to wonder.

  The storm felt like claws against his flesh. His clothes were being torn to shreds and his skin was bleeding from a hundred tiny cuts. With shaking arms he pushed himself to his knees. Too much blood. Not just his own.

  He looked to his right. Katherine was lying face down on the roof. Her skin torn by the razor-sharp rain as easily as her clothes.

  He looked to his left. Simon was on his side, a soaked bundle of fur clutched in his bloody arms.

  It didn’t matter. He didn’t know them. He wasn’t a hero. Their lives weren’t his to protect. How many times did he have to tell himself that before he accepted it?

  A bright light on the horizon pulled his attention. Miles away, a pillar of flame burned across the sky. He thought he could feel the heat from here, but he wasn’t sure.

  The concrete below began to chip as the rain continued to grow worse. Each drop of water felt like being stabbed with a blunt needle, and hundreds pelted him each second. Not even his Jade body would last forever against this storm. Good. He needed the pain: needed something to focus on that wasn’t that crushing sense of doom.

  He looked to the sky. The black clouds stretched from horizon to horizon. His guidestone wasn’t working. There was nowhere to run. Nothing to do. He gritted his teeth.

  “Stop complaining and think of something,” he told himself.

  He grabbed Katherine and pulled her body close. He did the same to Simon’s. With the bodies slumped against his shoulders, he began formulating.

  Mass. Volume multiplied by density. Density of the average person was… they were both thin. Less fat and muscle. Slightly more dense than normal. Would have to take that into account. Educated guess.

  Last time he measured his volume was two cycles ago. He’d grown five inches since then. Rounding up and adding their own…

  He decided on the number. It was certainly off, but hopefully in the direction he wanted. Air would make up the difference. Plugged into the formula he’d been taught cycles ago.

  The math was easier than estimates. Simple division and multiplication.

  He pushed his Spirit into his will and felt reality give way to his demands. The air fizzled and hissed around them: the consequence of his shoddy calculations. Then he felt gravity’s hold on him loosen.

  His Spirit drained as the spell took hold. This was a focus spell, one that would continue sapping his Spirit until he stopped letting it. It was a fairly low-cost spell, but it was still going through his Spirit quickly. He’d only be able to keep it up for five or six minutes. He was working far outside his affinities.

  He fastened the two against him, then sat up to a crouch. He calculated another formula, the same one he had for the rocks he’d used to kill the monster earlier. This one was easier. The math didn’t have to be so precise, and it was part of his specialty of movement.

  The spell altered their acceleration. They launched into the air. He had to shut his eyes, as the rain became even more painful against his skin. He cast the spell again after they began to slow down.

  It was the worst kind of flight. Messy, dangerous, and impossible to control with any fine degree. But he didn’t need fine control. There was only one place the rain couldn’t hurt them, and as long as he went in that general direction, he’d reach it.

  After nearly a minute of constantly slinging them skyward, they reached the clouds. He increased the acceleration for one last push.

  When he broke through, the first thing he noticed was the light. It was brighter than anything he’d ever seen on his planet.

  The second thing was the sun itself. He looked at it, and it actually stung his eyes with its intensity. It was so much smaller than his own, but it burned so much more intensely. He could feel the heat on his skin.

  And the sky was blue. It was so strange and alien, but beautiful. Even the black sea of clouds below added to the beauty, contrasting against the bright serene view above.

  He looked away from the picturesque sight and down at the two bodies he had taken with him. Were they breathing? He couldn’t tell. He was pretty sure he had something that could help in his inventory. It would cost him more supplies than he’d prefer, but he’d already dragged them up here.

  He was still too close to use his guidestone, but he finally had room to breathe. All he had to do now was coast them away. Once he got far enough to use his guidestone, he could use that Spirit potion he had to give them more time. Again, he hated to use such valuable equipment. He needed to stop getting into these situations.

  He felt it a moment before he saw it. A spike of dread; similar but distinct from the one that emanated from the coast. The clouds broke beneath him. He looked down just in time to see it.

  The dire-beast. It had finished forming in the wake of the powerful Spirit that flooded the city.

  All he saw was a gaping mouth, filled with thousands of flat teeth.

  The mouth closed around him, and the world went black.