《On planet Myriad》 The iron horde Location: South West edge of Revenia. King Naphthalious stood atop a hill, waiting for the servants to finish packing up his tent. Today was the day that he would exterminate the iron beasts that his local nobles had failed to. He needed to punish them later, after he had finished cleaning up their mess, he thought. He watched as his Royal Army packed up the camp under the gentle morning sunlight, specifically though, Naphthalious watched his wife, his queen. Beautiful as ever, he thought, as he watched her direct the soldiers. His gaze was interrupted by movement at the edge of the clearing. The scouts had returned. Soon they approached the main tent. He decided to go back to watching his queen for a little longer and let his advisors figure things out first. After a while he reluctantly tore his gaze away from his wife. As much as he loved watching her work, he had work of his own to do. He made his way over to the main tent. As he entered, his scouts and advisors spoke in unison. ¡°¡°¡°your Majesty¡±¡±¡± they had said. ¡°What do you have for me?¡± Naphthalious had asked. The advisors had shared a glance, silently deciding who would speak. ¡°Your Majesty¡± one of his advisors spoke ¡°The scouts have found the nest of the iron beasts. We must march for half a quarter day south east, and then another half a quarter day south.¡± ¡°Very well. Have everything ready to go as soon as possible. I want to have defeated these iron beasts and have set up camp before night fall.¡± Naphthalious commanded. ¡°As you say, it shall be done, your Majesty.¡± the advisor spoke ¡°Good.¡± Naphthalious said, as he walked out of the tent. Not long after, his servants had readied his carriage, and seeing that the camp was nearly cleaned up he made his way over to the carriage, and climbed inside. After a brief wait, he was joined by his wife and the carriage lurched forward. Aside from his wife''s flirting, the ride had been rather uneventful, and eventually they had arrived. He had given his wife one last kiss before she donned her helmet and stepped out of the carriage to direct the army. He had then stepped out himself, and made for his advisors to prepare a plan of attack. He had doubted that it was necessary, but this was the Royal Army. It would not do for a soldier to perish because he had not prepared a plan. Finally having decided on a plan of attack, he sought out his wife, and explained the the plan: half of the army would stay in front of the strange den, and make lots of noise to distract the iron beasts, while the other half would perform a sneak attack from behind, climbing onto the iron beasts and attacking their weak points. He observed his army, the orders spread amongst their ranks quickly, and the well trained soldiers knew what to do. Soon enough, the army was in position. He watched from afar, using his spyglass. It wouldn''t do for him to be killed by a stray attack after all. Still, he wouldn''t miss a chance to watch his wife''s combat dance for anything. No sooner than he had thought that, the first half of the army began stomping on the ground and banging their swords against their shields. The well trained soldiers stomped in unison, their stomps causing the ground to shake with each stomp. He had even felt the tremors they caused from atop his carriage. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Soon enough, one of the beasts roared and emerged from the strange den, soon followed by four more of it''s brethren. The Army backed up, still making lots of noise to make sure there weren''t any more left in the den. After no more came out, the first half of the army charged, and the second half of the army quickly and quietly approached from behind. He watched as his wife jumped onto the fifth iron beast, and started her dance, slicing at the metallic arms protruding from the top of the beasts, doing more damage with each consecutive hit. Soon she was hacking into the flesh of the beast, her blade leaving larger and deeper wounds with each strike. The battle raged for almost half a quarter day, before the last one had been slain, his troops were exhausted but they were all alive. The Iron beasts were strange, like no beast or monster Naphthalious had ever seen before. They did not bleed. To kill them, you had to keep cutting at them until they died, and they were not easy to cut. Many of the soldiers'' swords were ruined from hitting the solid iron beasts over and over again. Then he heard it. First the thunder, then the ripping, and crunching, as if the sky was being ripped apart. Then he saw his wife explode. Location: Capital city of Revenia, Naphthalious¡¯ palace. ¡°CHRISTINE¡± Naphthalious screamed, waking up from the nightmare that had plagued him for the last two years. He sighed. The ever since that accursed day, the iron horde had seemingly decided that his kingdom should be removed from the face of myriad. The five beasts his army had fought on that day, which had taken almost half a quarter day to defeat, had been a mere scouting party. Now, he had lost nearly half his kingdom to the iron horde. He sighed again, looking out his window. The sky was starting to alight, but the sun was nowhere to be seen. Naphthalious stood for a moment, before deciding that there was no point in going back to sleep. Perhaps one of his children was awake, he thought, beginning to dress himself for the day. He didn''t get to spend nearly as much time with his children anymore, he spent almost every hour from sunrise to sunset holding together the cracks in his kingdom, and fighting off the iron horde. He knew that if nothing changed his kingdom would fall apart, and the iron horde would take his precious children, and all the precious children of his kingdom, and the adults would all be slaughtered. He just wished that the other kingdoms had listened to his plea for help, rather than dismissing good claims. He approached the room of his youngest, Luma. He knew that even if she escaped the iron horde somehow, she would not survive the cruel world outside his kingdom. Peering into her room, he found the little ball of joy curled up around her stuffed horse, a gentle smile on her sleeping face as she dreamed happy dreams. Naphthalious smiled gently at the adorable sight, and quietly closed the door, moving onto the next room. He quietly opened the door to the room of his second youngest, the young man who would have inherited the throne after Naphthalious grew old, had the iron horde not decided that his kingdom needed to be destroyed. Peeking into the room, he found that his son, Eric, was at his desk, having seemingly fallen asleep while studying something. Chuckling quietly, Naphthalious gently picks Eric up and carries him to his bed, tucking him in, before leaving quietly, closing the door behind him. Lastly, he moves to check the room of his eldest child, Lilly. Upon opening the door, he finds the usually scowling teen with a serene smile on her face. Not wanting to wake her and ruin the scene, he silently backs out of the room, closing the door, and heads for his kitchen. While Naphthalious knows it is unkingly to cook, dress himself, or sew, but right now, he was a father, and he refused to let anyone get in the way of him loving his children. And today, he decided that he would convey his love by cooking them a feast of a breakfast, each bite filled with his love. He had to make up for the time he couldn''t spend with his children, after all. And so, Naphthalious spent the rest of his time before sunrise making pancakes, and then writing a note for his children to read once they woke up, because by the time that happened, he would already be in the war room. Fall of the USS Camper Van, pt. I Location, USS Camper Van, deep space ¡°Oh you have got to be kidding me.¡± Elliott whined as a priority message from the ship''s captain popped up in the corner of his heads up display. ¡°I swear, that bitch only messages me for two reasons. Either she wants me to make something do something that it''s not supposed to, or she wants me to fix something.¡± He continues complaining, while bringing up the ship''s self diagnostic. ¡°Nothing seems out of the ordinary¡­¡± He sighs. ¡°Alright, let''s see what she wants me to break this time¡± He says, finally pulling up the message to view it. Valerie Williams: | Navigation systems aren''t working properly. Fix it. ¡°You couldn''t have been any more vague?¡± He sighs again, before putting together a response Elliott Carter: | The ship says everything is in working order, can you describe the issue? He waits a few minutes for a reply, absentmindedly stroking a nearby pipe. If it really was urgent, she would reply. Otherwise she would forget and not respond, and he wouldn''t have to deal with it. Valerie Williams: | Come to the bridge and see for yourself. He sighed. ¡°Nothing else to it, captain''s orders.¡± He mutters, gathering the miscellaneous tools of the floor of his previous worksite before making his way to the nearest access shaft, and begins his gentle float ¡®up¡¯ the shaft. Exiting the shaft once he arrives at the primary level of the ship, he takes a moment to reorient himself, the sudden changes in gravity not playing nice with his senses. ¡®I want to pummel whoever decided those shafts were a good idea. Not only are they another thing I have to maintain, but the nausea and disorientation could get you killed in an emergency.¡¯ This time he kept his thoughts to himself, as he wasn''t on any of the engineering levels of the ship. Here, someone might actually hear him. After taking a minute or so to get his bearings, he reluctantly continues his short trek to the bridge. It really was short, taking just under a minute to arrive at the door. Pressing the button on the side, and waiting for the captain to let him in. Not ten seconds later, the door opens. ¡®Faster than usual, whatever isn''t working must really be pissing her off¡¯ he thinks, stepping into the bridge- ¡°Ah, you are finally here¡± says the captain, her voice sounding Regal as ever. ¡°Have a look at this.¡± She points to a rather impressive display, displaying what appeared to be a live feed of a star system, then to the navigation hologram being displayed in the center of the room. The hologram is displaying the position of the USS Camper Van, relative to the star systems of the galaxy. ¡°The navigation system is insisting that this star system doesn¡¯t exist.¡± Before the captain can start her next sentence, Elliott looks to the navigator and asks ¡°Have you double checked the position of the system? You aren''t just looking in the wrong spot?¡± Elliott felt bad bringing the poor navigator to the center of attention, he knew it was shy, he just couldn''t stand to let that useless excuse of a captain utter one more word. The navigator nods ¡°I- I have, triple checked it even. I also even tried logging the system to the database, it worked, b- but not two seconds later it was gone again. I t- tried it again only to get the same results.¡± Elliott made a mental note to get the navigator¡¯s name, it had provided actually usable information, and had actually tried to remedy the situation. Elliott had no idea what might be causing such a strange and specific issue, but he figured reinstalling the software would fix the issue. With a plan of attack in mind, he explained his plan. ¡°I am going to try and reinstall the navigation system from the backup, you haven''t logged any star systems since we last synchronized with the net right?¡± The navigator shook its head ¡°n- no, I don''t think so.¡± ¡°Alright then, I will be back with a copy from the backup¡± Elliott says, leaving the bridge before the captain starts her yapping again. He regretted his decision the moment he got to the access shaft. Resigning himself to more discombobulation, he steps into the shaft and starts climbing ¡®down¡¯ to the main engineering deck. After taking another minute to get his orientation back, Elliott heads for the room labeled ¡®software engineering¡¯ He quickly made for the leftmost terminal, painted all black and ominous, and separated from the rest of the systems in the ship. The transfer device was already sitting in its slot, waiting for an occasion like this one. Elliott powered up the tall black rectangle with a screen on it, and went about setting the data to transfer. Now all he had to do was wait. . . . So it turns out the map of the entire known galaxy, the hyperspace jump calculator, and whatever else fell under the category of navigation system, was a LOT of data. The transfer process was taking longer than he''d like. This fact was made even more apparent by the captain sending another message. Valerie Williams: | Where are you? It''s almost been twenty minutes! He sighed, and looked at the screen. It simply displayed a loading bar, with 99% over the center of it. Just like it had two minutes ago. ¡°Ninety nine percent my ass.¡± Of course, right as he said that, it finished. ¡°Of course, right as I say that, it finishes. Guess I better tell her I''ll be up soon¡± He says to himself as he makes sure to properly eject the transfer device. Elliott Carter: | Download is taking a while. Ninety eight percent done. I''ll be up shortly. Grabbing the transfer device, he shuts down the terminal, and sets course for the bridge again, only stopping to once again reorient himself after traversing the access shaft again. Arriving at the bridge, he was let in before he could even hit the access button. ¡°Finally! About time. Now hurry up and get it working again.¡± The captain demanded impatiently. He walked over to the navigation console, plugging in the transference device, and waited for it to do it''s thing. The captain looked to the navigator ¡°Well, what are you waiting for? Bring up the navigation holo!¡± she demanded. ¡°C- Captain¡­ I can''t. It''s still d- downloading¡± replied the navigator. ¡°So, what. We''re just dead in the void? We can''t go anywhere?¡± Asked the captain exasperatedly. ¡°N- not necessarily¡± the navigator replied. ¡®Why would you say that¡¯ Elliott thought, doing the mental equivalent of a facepalm. ¡°Not necessarily? Explain.¡± said the captain. ¡°W-we could manually calculate the necessary information to make a jump and feed it directly into the¡­¡± he trailed off, realising his mistake. ¡®You fucking dumbass. Did you seriously think that there was any possibility she wasn''t going to tell you to do that?¡¯ Elliott kept the rude remark in his head, not wanting to look bad in front of the rest of the bridge crew, who had wisely remained silent. ¡°Then do so, I am tired of waiting. I want to visit that star system.¡± the captain complained. ¡°That goes for all of you.¡± She continued. ¡°I want all hands solving these calculations.¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Elliott sighed, he knew this was coming. He knew making a jump like this was unsafe, but losing his reputation and his job was less so. At least the luxury yacht was equipped with the best sensors on the market, and he was getting paid handsomely for putting up with the captain''s antics. Always good to look on the bright side of things. ¡®Look. As long as no one fucks up the equations, well be fine.¡¯ he consoled himself. Then he had an idea. Being the heir to one of the megacorps of the galaxy, the captain had to have a good education. ¡®Hell, I bet the captain could probably do most of the equations necessary in her head. She could probably cut off at least twenty percent of the calculations I would have to do, and she could probably do them better too.¡¯ he thought. ¡°Captain, you¡¯re smart, right?¡± Elliott queried ¡°Who do you think I am!?¡± She replied, sounding offended. ¡°Sorry, sorry, I was just thinking that you could probably do most of the calculations in your head, faster and more precisely than the rest of us. It would get us moving faster, and you would have to spend less time waiting. Win win for everyone¡± Elliott said, feeling a little bit smug. ¡°I- very well. I shall assist in these calculations¡± the captain replied, almost begrudgingly. ¡°Guess I have some work to do. I''ll be in engineering if you need me, like usual¡± Elliott decided now was as good a time as any to take his leave. Just the thought of spending a second longer than necessary in the presence of the captain was enough to make him cringe mentally. . . . Half an hour later, he had finished all the calculations the navigator had passed off to him, and sent them back for review. He was sure he hadn''t missed anything, but it never hurt to have a trained pair of eyes check the calculations that could make the difference between life and death. There was a reason only highly trained crew on exploration ships manually calculated their traversal of the stars. One wrong calculation could spaghettify the entire ship and spread you across the galaxy. That was an extreme example, but it had happened, and that was why people used computers to calculate things like that. Yet here he was, waiting for the rest of their crew to finish their allotment of work, so they could jump manually. All because the captain was too impatient to wait for the navigation program to hard reset. Elliott then remembered he had sent the malfunctioning copy to the software engineering room to figure out what went wrong with it, and perhaps send in the fix later for a moderate sum of credits. He might be able to afford real food next time they stopped by a somewhat developed spaceport, not just the shitty imitations you found at fast food restaurants. He had to admit, the shitty imitations weren''t that bad, they just weren''t great. Picking through the code, he decided to use what the navigator had found as a starting point. It didn''t take him long to find the cause, simply tracking the code that ran within a second of the start system disappearing, and the code revealed itself. ¡°the fuck?!¡± Elliott exclaimed. ¡°which fuck built code to erase this specific system into the base code!?¡± he complained. ¡°If I just delete this- nope that just kills the entire program¡± he said as he tried to fix the issue. ¡°Is it just a troll on the dev team? Or¡­¡± he wondered aloud. ¡°Or is someone hiding something.¡± he finished, his voice taking on a more sinister tone. Elliott seems to look at a whole slew of apparently random snippets of code ¡°The fuck? How is it that every fucking function of this entire program depends on that one code block¡± Elliott said, growing agitated ¡°Someone is definitely hiding something. That or someone is playing a very elaborate prank. I should probably tell the captain before she jumps into something she shouldn''t¡± he concluded Elliott sent an emergency comms request to the bridge as fast as the terminal would allow him. You would think that it would be easy, but no. He had to go through password after password, and confirmation after confirmation. Finally he managed to get the request sent. The captain appeared on the screen. ¡°Engineer, we were about to engage the jump drive. What is the emergency?¡± The captain asks, sounding slightly irritated. ¡°I was digging through the code of the navigation system to see if I could figure out what went wrong. It''s not an error. Someone doesn''t want this system found. Either someone is hiding something, or someone is playing a very elaborate prank. I can''t fix it without just about rewriting the entire thing. I''m serious. We might be in over our hea-¡± Elliott was speaking only to be interrupted by the captain. ¡°Someone is hiding something? Sounds like all the more reason to go look!¡± The captain says excitedly ¡°Engage!¡± She orders loudly ¡°Oh right. I have to press the button¡± she says, pressing the button. The hyperfield lattice adorning the USS Camper Van begins to glow brightly, and Elliott can hear the hyperdrive begin to rev up. The bits, bobs, gears and other miscellaneous components start to sing their melodious song, a song that seemed to tell the tale of weaving between space, elegantly dancing among the stars, and a proud voyage. It didn''t take long for the USS Camper Van to get on its way, as expected of a luxury yacht. Elliott sits there, taking a minute to process what just happened, then decides he needs to scream, quickly cutting the call. It wouldn''t do to ruin his rep over carelessness after all. ¡°WE''RE ALL GONNA FUCKING DIEEEE¡± he screams, taking a second to refill his lungs. ¡°Guess I better make sure she''s ready to make emergency maneuvers the moment we get back in real space. I don''t want to get slapped by a giant laser or something as we enter¡± he mutters, sending a message to the pilot, giving them a heads up in case they didn''t get the memo. Elliott Carter: | Hey, in case you didn''t get the memo, it is highly likely that someone doesn''t want this system found. The instant we get in realspace I want you to hit evasive maneuvers like we are about to die. We have no idea what is waiting for us on the other side. Could be a fleet of warships, could be a giant laser fed by a Dyson swarm. Just in case, I''m going to juice up the engines with my own special concoction, which should give you roughly 9.35 times the thrust you are used to. Only have enough to give you a hundred or so seconds of boost, but should get us out of Dodge for long enough to blind jump out of danger. And be ready, because the dampeners are only rated for double Sending the message away, Elliott got up and quickly made his way to the place he kept his concoction. Grabbing the container adorned with a label that read ¡®booster juice¡¯ on it. Apparently it was an old Earth company that had sold drinks. He had thought it was funny at the time. Actually he still thought it was funny. He didn''t have time to laugh right now though. Somewhere along the way to the engine room he grabbed his tool box, and an extra vehicular activity suit. Donning the suit once he reached the engine room, he prepared the makeshift injection apparatus he had built, something he had learned to do after his first encounter with pirates nearly got him killed Attaching the container to the apparatus was not exactly easy, this was unfortunately necessary. If the container came loose mid injection, there might as well be a thruster firing in the engine room, requiring a complete engine shutdown to fix. A little more than minute after he had finished securing the bottle the yacht gracefully began exiting hyperspace Hearing the telltale signs of the song coming to its close, Elliott panicked a little, trying to find something to hold onto, he decided that the frame would probably be his best bet. It probably wasn''t, but it''s better than holding onto a pipe and risking whatever systems relied on said pipe. Elliott clamped his arms and legs around the doorframe, and not a moment too soon. Seconds later, he felt immense G-forces as the ship began to lurch and rotate, the hull groaning under the pressure. He was pretty sure this was at least twice the force he had calculated for. ¡°C''mon girl, you got this, you got this.¡± he tried encouraging the ship. It wasn''t enough. The USS Camper Van shook violently as it was grazed by a projectile traveling at unreasonable speeds, tearing a large gash in the side of the ship. The thrusters were still firing. This was good. It meant that they weren''t dead in the void. It was then that Elliott realised he could see outside of the ship, and he was very glad he was already holding on for dear life, and wearing an E.V.A. suit In hindsight he probably should have depressurized the area, but oh well. he bet if they were to make it out of this alone that pilot was going to get a party raise. He looked at the counter ticking down in the corner of his heads up display. [75] He hoped his captain would be competent enough to hit the blind jump in the next 25 seconds [70] Then he hoped she wasn''t, because the hyperfield lattice was compromised. [65] Elliott wasn''t sure what he could do at this point, surely, after all he''d been through, it wouldn''t end this time. Right? [60] Something didn''t feel right. Elliott could quite put his finger on it though. [55] Was it just Elliot? Or was it warmer than usual in here? [50] The insane G-forces stopped. ¡°Fuck, looks like time is up.¡± No sooner had he said that, the call for all hands to abandon ship rang through the ship. Or rather just the sections that had air left at all. Of course, this did not include the engine room. [40] Elliott got to work fast. He realised that if he ever wanted to leave this system, he needed the ship in orbit, with the hyperdrive intact. [30] He found his way to the main engineering console, which he knew could mimic most of the consoles on the ship. It was a well guarded secret among engineers. Many captains didn''t like the idea that someone else could access their controls. [20] He keyed in the necessary commands to access the pilot¡¯s console. [10] He programmed the ship''s autopilot to head for the orbit of the nearest habitable looking world. [0] The engines blazed, beginning to push the ship onto an orbital trajectory. Eventually, the ship informed him that it had achieved a stable orbit, and he breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Holy fuck, alright. Maybe I can make it out of this alive after all. I might even get compensated if I can rescue the captain.¡± he said optimistically. The next projectile chose that exact moment to make a large hole from one side of the ship to the other, erasing the ship''s reactor in the process. ¡°Oh fuck me, I jinxed it¡± Elliott whined. ¡°Now what¡­ I guess I just sit here and hope they don''t decide to evaporate the remains of the USS Camper Van, and me along with it?¡± Elliott mutters A flashing notification on the engineering terminal grabs his attention. It reads: Warning: collision course with undiscovered planet. Estimated time to impact: seventy hours . ¡°Oh well fuck me sideways and around the corner. The situation has not gotten better since I woke up. This day keeps getting worse.¡± Artifacts from the gods Location: ??? The night sky roared in agony, as it was torn apart by a strange fiery attack. Rae had not known the night sky could do that. She also wasn''t sure how someone would attack the night sky anyways. And she certainly wasn¡¯t sure why someone would attack the night sky. Was the night sky strong? Rae hoped the sky was strong. She liked the night sky. It was pretty, and could tell you which way you were going if you knew how to read it. Eventually, the large fire lance faded, and with it the night sky¡¯s roar. She wasn''t sure if it was a fire lance. But she did not know anyone who could cast such a spell. Rae decided she should record this knowledge in her knowledge keeper. She began rooting around in her pack, from which she withdrew her vial of ink, ink layer, and the newest knowledge keeper. She began by drawing the spell. She knew drawing it would use a lot of ink, but she hoped someday she might learn the name of the spell, by showing the crude sketch to a magic practitioner. Once she was satisfied with her drawing, she wrote about how the sky had roared in pain, how the sky could be attacked with a big enough magic, and how one should not attempt to attack the sky, because if one decided to attack the sky, the sky would surely retaliate. Given how she had not seen another giant fire lance, Rae figured that the sky had won. The sky had to be strong, she figured, it had always been there after all. She set her knowledge keeper down on her pack to let the ink dry, and began to think about her current unfortunate circumstance. See, Rae was learning to be a keeper of knowledge for the tribe. Her job was to learn, record, and share knowledge. However, Rae¡¯s knowledge was not very useful in the current predicament the tribe had found themselves in. Rae didn''t need to hear the hushed whispers to know supplies were dwindling, that people were going to have to be left behind. She knew no one liked it, but she also knew that they would all starve if they kept this up. ¡®I''m going to be left behind. I''m not strong, my knowledge has been of no use, I can''t make tools, I can''t forage, and I can''t hunt.¡¯ Rae told herself for the fifteenth time that night. ¡®Well there''s nothing to be done about it. I can''t go back, if I do, I will be taken too. I do not wish for a fate worse than death. Only a miracle could save me now.¡¯ She finished her depressing train of thought, before lying down on the rough ground, hoping she would get enough sleep to keep her going for the next day. . . Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. . Location: dailan village of the fox-kin tribe. Rae woke up in her bed, a gentle breeze blowing through her window carrying the gentle scent of spring flowers. She enjoyed the moment briefly, only bothering to get up when she noticed the sound of sizzling in the kitchen. Sniffing the air again, she caught the faint scent of her sister''s cooking. Not wanting to risk missing out on that, Rae quickly moved to find something suitable to wear to breakfast. Looking into her closet she decided to go with something plain. Sure, she would need to eat quickly, but she couldn''t afford to get her nice clothes dirty. Especially not today. After all, today she had promised grandmother she would go to the church to learn about the ancient artifacts, and the church would not let you in if you were wearing anything but your best. Something about offending the gods by not bringing your best. Satisfied with her breakfast attire, Rae stepped out of her room, and made for the kitchen. As she reached the table her sister began setting out the delicious smelling meal. As if on cue, her brother burst through the front door, and sped into the kitchen, followed shortly after by her parents and grandparents albeit at a much more reasonable pace. Rae scarfed down the delicious meal. As much as she would prefer to savour it, she needed to get changed into her fancy clothes and start heading to the church sooner rather than later. Rae finished eating quickly and ran off to her room to get changed again. Tossing her plain clothes to the side, she quickly grabbed her fancy clothes and began putting it on. Once that was complete, she grabbed the small handbag that she had prepared last night and began making her way to the church. The Walk to the church was a long and boring one. Her movements were very restricted because of the clothes she wore, so she could not move fast. Arriving at the church, she explained that she was here to learn about the ancient artifacts. After a short wait, someone came to teach her all about the ancient artifacts. As she was taught, she was guided around the church to different murals, and told about the artifacts, and how they were sent by the gods. Approaching the next mural, it seemed familiar for some reason. A streak of fire across the sky. As the guide was explaining about how when the gods sent artifacts, they came down like a Lance of fire from the heavens, she started to faintly hear a strange sound that seemed to be getting louder every second. . . . Rae woke abruptly from her sleep as the night sky let out another pained roar. Disgruntled from the obnoxious awakening and having to sleep on the ground with only her tail to use as a blanket, Rae looked up to see the giant fire Lance slowly tearing its way through the still dark sky. But something was wrong. Something had the fur on Rae¡¯s tail standing on end. Something¡­ then she noticed it. ¡®is that¡­ getting bigger?¡¯ Her eyes went wide with realization. ¡®That''s heading towards here.¡¯ ¡®I''m going to die, aren''t I?¡¯ She noticed she had began running ¡®What is the point of running, that spell is huge. Even if it doesn''t kill me, I will die anyway. I cannot find food, I cannot prepare food, I will starve. I do not know how to find water. I will dehydrate.¡¯ Her legs did not care for her pessimistic thoughts, instead opting to run away from the now giant rapidly approaching Lance of fire. The giant Lance of fire passed over her, deafening her sensitive ears, and blowing her off her feet. Time seemed to slow down. Then she saw it. She saw the massive Hulk of superheated iron fly past her. That was no fire lance. That was an artifact sent by the gods. Rae had read about them before. The churches were all too happy to teach her about the gods and their relics. ¡®Maybe, just maybe, this is the miracle I need¡¯ was her last thought before she flew off the cliff.