Don’t Stop Me Now

The next five days went by so fast it frightened me. Time seemed to speed up when there was something on the horizon that you dreaded. Every time the sun went down I would wake up the following morning with a heavier lump in my stomach. Every day it got harder to get to sleep.

Not just because of the impending fight, but because of the aches and pains. My body was recovering much faster than normal. By morning it was like hitting a reset button, but my biggest trouble was getting to sleep in the first place.

Try to sleep after falling down five long staircases, your body a lumpy, purple, aching mess and you can’t take a breath without crying. That was the extent of my training with Stagger.

Everything happened in fast forward when it came to pain. The stronger I got, the harder it was to sleep it off. I quickly learned, with Chroma’s help, that my mechanism for healing had everything to do with sleep. It was integral to my survival. I didn’t just need to sleep, I had to. Even when Stagger and I were up on that valley wall beating the hell out of one another I’d have to stop and take power naps just to stay in the game.

Just to make it until sundown.

Stagger was on to something though. It was like he’d figured out the missing piece in my fight. We weren’t practicing attack patterns anymore, we were trying to see just what it would take to get my flesh and bones to break. We’d work on defense routines, whirling and spinning, using my hands to deflect the side of the Atma Weapon. A few times I’d catch the edge and end up howling in pain as he bruised my knuckles. I used the pain to power me. To work harder, to concentrate on hitting the mark.

The edge hurt, the flat didn’t. It was a simple philosophy. If I had my forgemaster gloves though, it wouldn’t matter.

When we weren’t perfecting the dance, we were scouting large boulders. Using my multi-tool to absorb the impact of them. He had me running them down, attempting to hit them with enough force to move them. It hurt, but after a while, I figured out how to hit them with just enough force to make them roll over. He said my best offense was solid defense and I couldn’t really call him wrong.

It was day six now.

Day of.

I had so many nerves in my stomach the night before that it took me forever to get to sleep at Bijou’s place. I couldn’t help but think about her and the forgefolk. I tried to concentrate on the mental image of the roaring fire. Tried to conjure up the feeling of that familiar heat against my skin and the ringing sound of hammers striking metal.

I remembered Sindri and Brokkr. The brothers Bokk.

While Sindri didn’t often work down in the forges anymore, Brokkr was there every day overseeing the fires. It was ironic that I lived and worked in a place that produced weapons for my enemies, but I knew the forgefolk had to make a living like everyone else.

It didn’t offend me. I even worked on a few things for Valhalla myself. Metal buckles, strap anchors and other small things mostly, but it put a sadistic smile on my face to know that tomorrow I might very well clash with a weapon I helped build.

I thought about those incredible hammers Brokkr and Sindri used again and it astounded me the kind of strength it must have taken to hoist them. To swing them over and over again. Not like the ones they kept at their sides, no. The massive hammers used to craft Boreas Metal from the Icy Moor. I remember trying to lift one of those things once before Brokkr made me my own little hammer. I couldn’t make it budge.

When I finally did get to sleep, it was frightful. I must have tossed and turned all night. In my dream, I had made it to the terrible, awful underworld.

Fire and brimstone were in the air. It burned my lungs and eyes. I was covered in blood from head to toe, dragging myself along through the shattered roads of the Broken City. I couldn’t see him, but I knew. Somehow I knew inside of me that Stagger and Bijou were dead.

I crawled on my hands and knees, suddenly feeling the tightening grip of a leash around my throat tethered to the chain that Gozen Morrow was holding as she kicked me through the streets of the damned, laughing at me. She made me crawl all the way to the dark obelisk at the burning center of this mad world, perverted by the evil whim of Orcus.

She showed me mercy and let me mourn beside the broken, bloody body of Robin, laying atop a dark altar. Another sacrifice to my failure. All around me were copies of myself in the midst of all of my shortcomings as Gozen rolled my face in it like a bad dog.

One version of me curled in a corner, crying. A belt was around my arm, I held it tight with bloody teeth while I pushed a needle into my veins. My face was bruised and red.

I remembered that day.

That was the day my ex-boyfriend left me. What was worse, was even though most of my life with him was violence and fighting, I missed him. He was the only one that loved the real me. That destroyed person cowering in her dirty apartment, ruining her veins.

There was another me laying on the ground in the street after being thrown from a moving vehicle. That was the last day I had ever driven a car. And consequently the last day I had ever wanted to. I heard Sammy’s scream and it radiated through my body, torturing me as I knelt at Robin’s altar.

On and on, all around.

Me.

Filthy, horrible me.

And then the laugh of Gozen Morrow. I didn’t have to look back at her to know she was there. I couldn’t remember her face. I didn’t want to look back to see if I could.

I felt her grab a handful of my hair and yank my head back. Watched her slide her other hand over the red, wet surface of the altar. She then slapped me in the face with her open palm, rubbing Robin’s blood all over my face.

I sat up fast, screaming, rubbing my face, rolling out of bed and hitting the floor. My sheets had tangled me up and all I could feel was the clawing hands of my own failures. The hands of Gozen all over me.

“Get off, get off! Get off of me!” My desperate, hysterical scream filled Bijou’s guest room as I tore the sheet away, grateful for fresh air. I turned over to sit leaning against the bed, out of breath.

“Shit...” My hands came up, rubbing at my face.

It felt so real. I had never been so glad to be awake in my life. I felt the lump in the pit of my stomach, still feeling Robin’s blood on me.

“Shiny,” I said, and my travel icon whizzed over to me, emitting that green light.

“Aye, good morning, Wee Lass. Seems you’ve had a bit of a start.”

“Yeah... something like that.”

“Would you like me to start a bath?” I remembered then that Bijou had given my icon permissions in her place.

I nodded my head and water started to run in the tub across the hall.

“Shiny... I think today is the day I die.”

“What makes you say that, Lass?”

“I just kinda know it.” I scratched my head, “and honestly... I’ve been running from it so long, I don’t even care anymore. Living is so goddamn hard. I never was any good at it. Is it sad that... I’m actually not even that scared anymore?”

“It’s natural. Humans have been known to accept death when it’s become an inevitability. But just because you feel like it’s the end... that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t fight for every breath.”

I thought about those words.

“Yeah... I guess if today is my last day... I owe it to the people who gave a shit about me to be the best me that I can.”

“Isn’t that how you’re supposed to live every day?”

“I should’ve.”

* * *

Two hours later I was walking to Chroma’s office. I didn’t bother calling Stagger to come pick me up. I wanted to actually get out and look around. I wanted to enjoy every minute that I could. There was a certain liberation in knowing that by the time the sun went down I would be gone, along with all the pressures of life. What did I care about anything? None of it would matter to me once I bled my last drop.

I thought about Stagger and smiled.

I wasn’t sure what I felt for him, but I know whatever it was, I liked it. I knew if I was going to die, the worst thing I could do was tell him. Leave him wondering what kind of life we would have had if everything went our way.

That would be selfish. Stagger deserved better. He had a good soul.

I thought about Jack back home. About my sisters, both living, dead and more than likely dead. I thought about every mistake I’d ever made leading up to this day and I exhaled.

“It’s all finally over.”

Hearing it out loud gave those words a certain truth. I felt a silly smile pull at the corners of my lips. I wasn’t even scared by the fact that I almost welcomed the moment when my breath left my body.

I headed towards the same corner store we passed every day to and from the park. Rummaging around in my pockets, I found the leftover change I had from last night’s takeout. Stagger had bought of course, but he gave me the money to go to the door and pay.

There wasn’t a lot there, just a few boltas. I wasn’t really sure what the value of any of it was, but when I walked into the store, I didn’t really care.

It was a clean place with smooth white floors. The walls looked pristine and modern, every shelf neatly packed with uniform matte silver packages. There weren’t any words on any of it. I kinda frowned a bit and looked over at the teller behind the counter leaning on it. He was staring into the air, moving a finger every now and then as if he was turning a page.

“Fuck. Right,” I let my travel icon free, “HUD mode.”

The store came alive.

Advertisements were splashed across the walls. Full commercials played, sound flooded my ears from every angle. Even the white floor beneath my feet was alive with dancing colors and shapes. My feet made funny cheering sounds as I walked across it, tiny little fireworks exploding around my shoes.

Smiling, I looked over at the shelves and saw those silver packs now glimmering with delicious looking pictures of food. Cookies rolled off of the packages and spun about in the air, dunking themselves in digital glasses of milk. Energy bars burst upwards like rocket ships off of the packages and bottles of water had beautiful, splashing coastlines on them, sending the mind to gorgeous beaches where the water was crystal clear.

I turned and walked further on, laughing at some of the funnier packages, right before I stopped at a box that had sumptuous looking, flat, iced bread cakes popping out of what looked like a toaster.

My mouth opened wide.

Blue Veil had Pop-Tarts.

“Oh, fuck yeah!”

* * *

By the time I got to Chroma’s office, I was halfway through the box. I stopped at a coffee shop to grab a plastic knife and a few single-serving pads of butter. The cashier at the store I purchased my Pop-Tarts from suggested it. I didn’t even care that people kept stopping to stare at me. Kept saying how much I looked like Siobhan. I just laughed it off.

“Oh, yeah. People say that all the time, no relation.”

The entire way to my destination I was awkwardly smearing thick wads of creamy yellow spread on the backs of my toaster pastries and stuffing them into my mouth.

“Oh my god. Oh my god!” I said, rushing into Chroma’s office. My fingers were a mess, I probably had butter on my cheeks and crumbs around my mouth, but I didn’t care.

Chroma God and Stagger looked up from their seats. Stagger’s eyebrows descended, his eyes widening as he looked at me.

“Good morning, Charlie,” Chroma greeted me with a wave.

“What are you eating?” Stag asked.

“Have you ever put butter on a Pop-Tart?” I asked, my eyes wide as sugar bounced through my veins.

“It’s so frickin’ good,” Stagger said through a smile.

“I know, right!? I had no idea. I’ve just been the worst fat kid the whole way here.”

“How many of those have you eaten?”

“Five?”

“Jesus.”

Chroma was sitting at the table watching me. I looked over at him and I could tell he knew where I was. Not just physically, but mentally. I could see it through the concern on his face.

“Are you alright, Charlie?” He asked.

“Huh? Yeah... I’m okay. I’m good.” I nodded, sitting down at the table with my box of Pop-Tarts and packets of butter.

“Stagger and I have been going over the information we’ve just gotten from our spy at the Bacchus Theater.”

I gave him a sign of acknowledgment but wasn’t really paying attention. I smeared more butter on my last toaster snack.

“Charlie,” Chroma said, his voice gentle.

I kept spreading butter.

“Charlie,” he said again, leaning forward.

I set the knife down.

Looking up at him, then Stagger, I put my snack down on the table.

I wished I could be anything other than myself just then. A chair. A cat. Someone else having a much better life than me.

I wanted to be back home with my daddy sitting at the table waiting for mom to make breakfast. I wanted to be talking to Sammy in my room, chewing bubblegum and watching TV.

I felt tears start to rim my eyes.

“I’m scared.”

“It’s alright, Charlie,” Stagger said.

“I’m sorry I’ve been such a crybaby.”

“You’re fine, it’s okay,” he said.

Chroma got up from his seat and walked over to me, taking a seat in the chair beside mine.

“Charlie... I can’t imagine what you must be going through. I don’t think anyone among us can. You’ve been to places that would kill the heart of most people and endured the kind of hardships no one should ever have to. Especially not shoulders so small. But listen to me, because this is important.”

I looked up at him, wiping tears out of my eyes, accidentally smearing butter on my face.

“Some of the strongest people I’ve ever known faced insurmountable odds with tears in their eyes. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being afraid.” He placed his hand on my wrist and squeezed it reassuringly. “Fighting the good fight is often scary.”

I nodded but didn’t say anything. I didn’t have any words.

“Go boldly, Charlie... and mighty forces will aid your hands.” His hand left my wrist to squeeze my shoulder.

Just then, every travel icon in the room lifted into the air, painting the picture of Bijou’s beautiful face in front of us. Seeing it brought dread into my heart.

“It’s time,” she said, her silver eyes cutting into me.

“I hope you have some good news for us,” I heard Stagger say.

“The best.”

Chroma and Stagger stood. I sat there staring at my cold Pop-Tart.

“Alright. The clock is ticking. The continents have shifted again and Hymeris’ theater is closer than ever,” Bijou said, looking at Chroma God.

“Right. I’ll take my ball ship down into the Icy Moor. When it’s over, we’ll need a place to fall back to if things get ugly, but more importantly, we need to enlist the help of the NLR in Boreasland. Hopefully, they’ll listen to reason and see the wisdom in moving against the Bright Throne as one,” Chroma said.

“After today everything changes. Perun is going to take this as an official call to war,” Bijou said.

“Had to happen sometime,” Stagger stood, moving towards the door.

“Charlie, are you ready?” Bijou asked, her face and her tone as resolute as I’d ever heard.

No more was there teasing and musical sweetness in her voice. It was a husky, powerful and demanding thing that forced my attention.

“Y-... yeah,” I said, my voice tiny.

She gave me a reassuring smile, “You’re amazing. You can do this, Charlie.”

I felt a little blush. Bijou was that friend that always knew what to say. I smiled at her and stood up, shaking my head to shift my curly bangs that were spilling from my pompadour.

“How were the forgefolk?”

“They’re good. They’re all rooting for you.”

I nodded, happy to hear her words.

“So what did they make?” Stagger asked.

“See for yourself, Stag.”

* * *

We were out in the cold of Old Settler’s Place at the landing docks. Chroma and Stagger said their farewells, Chroma giving me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. I had my hands stuffed in my pockets to stave off the chill, my hoodie the only thing standing between me and freezing.

“You can do this, Charlie. We stand and fall side by side,” he said before marching towards his ball ship.

Behind Bijou’s ship, Stagger grabbed his bag and marched towards the side door. It irised open for both of us. Making our way inside, my eyes widened, looking at the inside of Bijou’s ship in HUD mode for the first time.

It was a wash of purple, white and gold tones. Animated banners ran along the upper parts of the walls. The floor was alive with squares of flashing purple and gold light that lit up when we walked on them. I could hear music playing inside and wondered just how my travel icon managed to help me hear it when I couldn’t before. I was bored to tears in this thing last time and here I was looking at everything like it was all new to me now.

Screens were on the walls playing poppy cartoons, no doubt features from Blue Veil as I didn’t recognize any of them. Games played demo stages waiting for someone to connect to them and enjoy them. Even the seats were rimmed in glimmering bands of gold light all the way up to the front.

“Bijou, are you one of those creepy cartoon show fangirls?”

“Maybe,” She said from the pilot’s seat, looking back at me with a smile.

“This is... really cool. I want a ball ship.” I whined.

“Like I said, you want everything,” Stagger said, laughing.

I walked towards the front of the ship moving towards her in the cockpit as I felt the ship start to lift off.

“It’s expensive and the fuel is a pain in the ass. Radiant Stones don’t come cheap. Trust me, you’re better off.” Stagger said, unzipping his bag. “I’m suiting up. Bijou, what’s our ETA?”

“Three hours if we take the gravity well. Zero-g should give us the momentum we need to get up to speed and punch through when the gravity hits us again. We shouldn’t have any trouble powering through Lilith’s Run into the High Moor,” Bijou said.

“Lilith’s Run? Like Lily Little?” I asked, surprised.

“You know her?” Bijou looked back at me with an eyebrow up.

“Yeah... something like that. I’d rather not talk about it,” I replied.

“Oh, I get it. She’s one of the best interrogators in NEST. I can only imagine. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. What’s she got to do with where we’re going?”

“She just happens to be one hell of a pilot. Most of the ball ship evasive protocols and maneuverability were designed by her back before the celestial uprising. She’s a valkyrie but was born in Boreasland where most ball ships are made. Even though the continents don’t exactly see eye to eye, Boreasland’s entire industry is built around making ships,” Bijou said as I made it up front and took a seat beside her.

“Why do they call it her run?”

“Because,” Stagger said, “it’s treacherous. It’s a narrow slip between two continents full of falling rock and jagged outcroppings just wide enough to get a ship through. And because of the shifting gravity, falling boulders get tossed back up creating an ever-present obstacle course of deadly debris, turbulence, and wind. On top of that, moisture and intermittent cloud cover end up freezing and unfreezing rain, so you get random lightning storms the entire way up.”

“Yup. It’s dangerous. Very dangerous. The first person to attempt it successfully was Lilly. And unfortunately for us, it’s the fastest way up,” Bijou said.

“How long if we go around?” I asked.

“Thirteen hours around, three hours through,” Bijou replied as she adjusted the ship’s settings above her and then again on the console in front. Looking over the dash in front of me, I thought back to when she asked me to take my feet down.

Springing up from it was several monitors, all tilted to aim at the driver’s seat. Each was a different view of the outside of the ship like digital mirrors. There was also a series of gauges that explained pitch and roll and a couple of other things I didn’t understand. None of this was in Stag’s shuttle.

I realized then the difference between a casual and a professional pilot. Then I just felt like an asshole for putting my feet on her shit because I was too stupid to know HUD mode existed back then.

I looked back at Stagger and saw him peeling out of his coat. I watched him take off his tie and start unbuttoning his shirt before I turned back forward in a hurry. I kinda felt like a pervert, but I peeked back again.

Stagger was waiting for me.

He was standing there with his shirt off, his tight skin looking as if it were poured over tectonic plates of lean muscle. He looked like someone carved him out of wood or marble, paying extra close attention to every delicious trench outlining his pecs and abs. I wanted to bite his solid-looking chest.

My eyes moved all the way down him, stopping at the only imperfection I could see. A slash on his right side that looked like an animal had swatted him with razor sharp claws. Each line was no more than a few inches long. A graze. I couldn’t help but wonder what he’d run into that gave him a souvenir like that.

Then his hand lifted from his side and beckoned my eyes upward. I managed to tear my eyes off of his body and get them to move up, meeting his gaze. I could feel the heat in my face.

“You’re not getting sweet on me, are you, Charlie?”

“No, sir,” I heard my voice crack and I swallowed, turning back around.

Bijou offered me a bottle of water from the bag beside her.

“Thirsty?” She asked, her tone as playful as the grin on her face.

I snatched it and glared at her.

“Shut up,” I hissed.

“Sorry, Hon.” She was still smiling.

“Stag, most people change in the bathroom,” I said, making sure to stare forward.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to break ball ship social rules. Is there a membership fee? Do I get a jacket?” He said from behind us.

“Yep,” Bijou nodded, “It’s pink and has prissy ponies on the pockets.”

“I’d wear it,” Stag called back and I heard him buckling his battle gear.

“You would,” I snapped back.

I heard his footsteps as he walked up behind us, resting his hands on the backs of our seats. I could smell his chestnut scent and had to take a breath to catch myself. If we met under any other circumstances, I would have done anything that man told me to.

Anything.

Then I found myself wondering just what kind of things a guy like Stagger thought about when he was hot and bothered. Was he one of those gentle lovers that wanted babies, or were babies just a consequence of him fucking me into submission? I found myself hoping he was the rough sort.

“Fuck,” I said through a breath.

Anybody that thinks women are delicate flowers that don’t ever have unclean thoughts, think again.

Yes, we burp, yes we fart, and yes.

We do want the dick.

Or pussy.

Or both.

We’re probably thinking about it just as often as guys are, we just multitask well enough to think about it while we’re still being productive members of society. Guys, however, seem to suffer some kind of palsy while they’re looking at the booty. Ogling away like obvious idiots.

My eyes traveled over Stagger, looking at his lean battle gear.

He had a protective vest of some kind on. It was tactical and dark, made out of material that couldn’t have been thicker than an inch, yet somehow it seemed unbreakable. He had his coat back on and over his dark pants, he had light armor strapped to his knees, shins and the tops of his boots like some kind of urban ninja.

I could only hope what Bijou brought me was half as neat looking. I certainly couldn’t go blasting my way through the Bacchus Theater in a hoodie.

Out of the window, I saw the first cloudline looming ahead of us like grey, foreboding smoke. Bijou punched us right into it, cloud vapor whirling behind us creating an upward facing tornado that I could see in one of her rear view monitors as we rose steadily.

“Close. We’ll hit zero gravity in twenty seconds. Then it’s full burn all the way past the Lighthouse. Lilith’s Run in forty minutes.”

“Right. Charlie, I think you’d better suit up. Start getting used to your gear,” Stag said.

I stood up and tried to slide by him, my pulse quickening when his hands found my middle. I tilted my head up, looking him in the eyes, fighting the urge to push up onto the tips of my toes and attack his mouth.

“I’m good,” I said, grabbing his hands and sliding them off of me.

“Sorry, I was just... helping,” he offered, squeezing past me. We switched sides and he sat down finally.

“Oh my god,” Bijou whispered.

I didn’t have to look at her to know she was rolling her eyes.

“What?” Stag asked.

“Nothing, Malcolm,” Bijou said in a singsong tone. “Charlie, your stuff is in the storage compartment.”

“Stagger,” He whined under his breath, “Stagger. Lee. It’s not that hard.”

“Bottom or side?” I asked, pointing at the floor as I looked back at Bijou.

“Bottom,” she called back to me just as we hit zero gravity.

My feet floated off the ground and I fell forward, turning end over end in place.

“Whoa-- what th... shit!”

I had to grab the handle to the storage compartment to stop myself. Pulling my legs down to the ground, I turned my eyes front and saw Bijou’s hair standing up. Stagger’s wavy hair was as well.

Bijou’s mug started lifting out of her cup holder. She grabbed it and took a swallow, jamming it back into place just as she hit the throttle and sent us barreling upward, simulating gravity. The seats at the helm moved upward, rotating along the shape of the ship to face the ceiling, the window panels shifting to allow them to look straight up.

My feet hit the ground and I felt my skin pull on my body. Squatting down, I turned the handle on the compartment and lifted it open, looking down into the storage compartment below.

“That’s weird. How come that didn’t happen on your shuttle the other night, Stag?” I asked, looking straight up at the back of he and Bijou’s heads.

“Stagger paid for gravity stabilizers. I put the extra money into the thrusters and the propulsion array, Sweetheart,” Bijou said and it made perfect sense.

She was the fun kind of reckless.

Looking down I saw the symbol of the Perch sitting on a large trunk.The familiarity brought a smile to my face. I reached down and brushed over the emblem, feeling every textured ridge and groove of its bas-relief. I took a deep breath, remembering that wonderful place. Both of my hands grabbed the big trunk and hauled it out. Sliding back onto my ass, I pulled it up between my legs to look at it in the light. Just seeing it made me comfortable. It set my mind at ease.

I hugged the trunk and smelled its familiar scent. Embers from the forges. I thought of funny Brokkr and his jokes. I thought of Sindri and his wisdom. I thought of Starland and the hope she gave me.

I thought about my daddy.

“I wish you could see me now, Daddy,” I whispered. “I’m gonna die today... it sucks you won’t get to see me do the best thing I ever did.”

I felt tears threatening my eyes but I blinked them away.

No more crying, Charlie. If this is your last day alive, finish strong.

Finish strong.

I got to my knees and tried to open the trunk. The latches wouldn’t budge.

“What the... I think it’s stuck, Bijou.”

“No, it’s not. Put your hand on the top. It’s only supposed to be opened by you.”

“You don’t know what’s in it?”

“Not a clue. Sindri’s orders not to open it or touch anything inside. He shut the forges down for four days while he, Brokkr and Starland worked.”

“Starland worked the forges for me?” I gasped.

“The forgefolk love you, Charlie.”

“What did you guys do...?” I asked the trunk.

I was shocked by the thought of Sindri shutting down the forges so that the three people closest to me could make my armaments. I couldn’t fathom me being worth that. Placing my hand on top of the box, I tried to imagine what that wise old forgemaster might have created that was so important. I felt a warm sensation under my palm as if the box knew me. The latches cracked open and a hiss issued from the opening as the lid unfastened.

I brought both of my hands to the intricate handle on its face and read the inscription.

“Everything within I freely give to you and you alone,” I read aloud.

The way it was worded was strange but I decided to think nothing of it and pulled the trunk open.

Digital confetti sprang out of the box and I laughed a little as three screens popped up from left to right, each with a different face on them.

Brokkr, Starland and Sindri.

I felt my heart swell, a big smile pulling at my face as I pressed the play button on Brokkr’s nose. I saw him and a few other forgefolk stumbling around in the halls, smacking frothy beer mugs together and singing.

They were well passed drunk.

“Lookit -- lookit me. I’m a,” Brokkr said, waving his hands around in the air trying to pantomime something that no one could make heads or tails of. All of the forgefolk with him burst into laughter. Brokkr was spilling beer all over the floor. “I got myself a big nose, too! I say- I say, wife! Give it a squeeze and POW. Y’know what I mean? Pow... there was a chicken.” He then collapsed onto the floor in a heap to uproarious laughter all around him.

I burst into laughter myself.

There was a jump cut. Brokkr was sitting up in bed, his sunken eyes and the ice pouch in his hand letting me know he was completely hungover.

“Ohhh, Wee Lass, I’ve overdone it. I just can’t handle my beer after the tenth or eleventh pint.” He put the ice pouch on his head. “Listen, I’m proud of ya. You’ve got a heart like the Nemean Lion, and that’s what I’ve put in your left. Each of us has made ya something that’s to aid you in your fight today. No matter what, Lass, I love ya. Ol’ Brokkr’s gonna miss ya if things go bad... so fight.” He nodded, “fight with all you’ve got. All the forgefolk are with ya. Good luck.”

Stagger climbed down from his seat and came to me. He sat down beside me on the floor and I rested my head on his shoulder. I played Brokkr’s message again and we shared a laugh. Stagger wrapped a reassuring arm around me and I felt him rub my shoulder.

I played Sindri’s message next.

He was sitting in the observatory on our bench, looking ever upward at that spiral galaxy in the sky.

“Hello, child.” I heard his familiar gravelly voice. “I suppose about now you’re feeling a little on edge.” He looked down, directly at me with those wise old eyes. “A little fearful. And of course, you would be. What you go to do is an uncertain thing. But you face it out of purpose and out of a desire to do good works and because of this, you will always have my love and respect. But take this thing, this fear... let it harden your resolve and temper your nerves. Fear comes from a lack of understanding and from the uncertainty of mortality. Today is the day you build your legacy. Do not let it be built on fear of the unknown, but rather, build it on the blocks of the work you leave behind. Your body of work tells the story of your legacy. Your story does not have to end this day. Realize you are mighty. Go boldly and powerful forces will aid your hands.”

Sindri’s words rang in my chest. I felt the swell of burgeoning pride. Not just for myself, but for my home. For the Perch. For my friends and my dad.

I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to fall in battle without fulfilling my purpose. I thought about Siobhan’s green eyes and the day she hugged me to her breastplate. She was passing me a torch from the past to light the future. Every one of these people that I loved were depending on me.

I leaned forward and pressed Starland’s message.

She was smiling. Always smiling. I could see Chanticleer in the background folding sheets in the Medici wing.

“There’s my girl. Chanti! Come say hi to Charlie!” She called back behind her, waving him over. Chanticleer trotted over and looked right at me from the past.

“Hey, Charlotte,” He said, smiling, his short black hair capped with the cloth Medici hat, his almond-shaped eyes bright. “I hear you’re doing really good. I’m glad to hear it. We’re proud of you. We’re all really proud. If you can take valkyries, I know this is no problem for you. I can’t wait to see you when you come back home. Be safe and fight hard. I’ll see you soon. Bye!” Chanti smiled and waved, heading back over to his duties.

“You be safe, alright, Love? You make it back home to us. Sindri still owes you some rag steaks and you’ve still got a spatula to finish in the forge!” Starland gave a laugh.

Stagger tilted his head to look at me.

“You make spatulas?” He asked.

“It’s a sword!” I whined, my shoulders dropping.

“I know it’s a sword, Love. I’m only teasing. Don’t get your knickers in a twist.” Starland said with the kind of perfect timing that would have only been better if she were right here with us.

Stagger and I both laughed.

“If you haven’t already, go ahead and open the box inside.” She said, pretending to wait for me, her brilliant eyes shining.

I reached down into the trunk and lifted the lid of the box enclosed. My mouth fell open at what I saw inside. There, neatly folded, was a white battle suit. It had navy blue leather accents throughout and beside it to the left and right was an equally blue set of forgemaster’s gloves. Each one had a different emblem. The one on the left was a silver plated bas-relief of a roaring lion’s head, the one on the right was the symbol of the forgemasters. The silver reliefs were molded into the leather gloves over the thick wrist bracers, accented in white stitching to match the armor.

I pulled the armor itself from between the gloves and brought it close to my face, looking at the high-quality material. I realized then that the white stitching had speckles of silvery metal within. The armor itself wasn’t bulky in the least. In fact, it looked like it was made to hug my frame. The midriff was a little thicker than the rest, but even it seemed relatively thin and flexible. Each shoulder had a hard protective plate over them. The plates too were slim and unencumbered, yet just as adamant as the rest of the suit.

“Whoa!” Stagger said and I looked over at him, following his eyes down to the box.

I set the armor down in my lap and looked in as well.

“Oh my god...”

A round clock face was looking up at me. Or at least the etching of one. The surface of the metal was painted white with brushed silver accents for the numbers, the second indicators, and the hands. The clock went from one to seventeen. It was the pocket watch cover from the timepiece that fell from the ceiling in the forges at the Perch.

“I wager by now you’ve had your socks knocked off,” Starland said, laughing. “Meet the Perch’s pride and joy. Sindri says that shield is the best thing he’s ever made. Called it The Forgemaster’s Timepiece.”

Wrapping my fingers around the edge of the shield, I remembered just how heavy that stopwatch was back in the forges. I couldn’t lift that thing in a million years. I was a little scared that maybe Sindri had forgotten that it was too heavy for me. That he had gone to all this effort to make something so beautiful that I was too weak to use.

I felt a pang of guilt for being so weak.

I took a sobering breath, clenched my fingers and tried to lift up on the shield from that ornate box. To my surprise, I nearly threw it up over my head.

It didn’t weigh a thing.

My mouth fell open, “How the...”

“It’s the metal,” Starland answered once again like she was here with us. “The shield is empowered by Wolf Metal. He felt it important to make it Wolf Metal because of its special properties. Wolf metal can’t be lifted unless it’s owner gives it to you. That’s the curse of the Wolves Bane. It has to be given.”

I remembered the words written on the outside of the box and smiled.

“Your left glove was made by Brokkr. It’s the same power that lets him and Sindri lift those amazing hammers. It’ll always amplify your strength as long as you’re wearing it. The right glove will always match your endurance. As long as you’re still standing your arm will stay steady. That one I made as a reminder, Love. Just like fighting off the drug and the drink... as long as you’re willing to fight, our strength of will is with you. You’ll always be able to lift your shield.”

I was overwhelmed. I hated that the forgefolk didn’t use travel icons. I wanted to call her. To call Sindri. To thank them for everything they had done.

We felt the ship jerk hard right and I paused Starland’s message.

“We’re in the Run. You’re running out of time. It’s going to get bumpy, guys.” Bijou called from up above.

“How long?” I called up to her.

“About another twenty minutes.”

Nodding, I tapped Starland’s message again and let it play.

“Bijou told me you’ve discovered your power. It’s amazing. I don’t know if she’s told you what it is, but it doesn’t surprise me that it’s you.”

“My power is endurance. That’s what you said,” I looked up at Bijou, confused. She didn’t say anything back.

“You have the Titan’s Strength. Amazing, Love! How does it feel being only the second god to ever wield it? Must be doing your head in to think about,” Starland said.

I looked at Stagger and he looked at me. The look on his face was as if he was seeing me for the first time.

“What?” I asked.

“Anyway, Love. It’s time to go, yes? Remember what I said,” I looked back at Starland’s video.

“Fight like you want to win!”

I set the shield aside to uncover the white and navy blue tactical boots that matched the armor the forgefolk had constructed for me.

“Titan’s Strength. Oh my god,” Stagger breathed, “Oh my god,” his voice elevated, “we’re gonna win. We’re gonna fucking win!” He shot up and climbed the railing on the wall to get back up to the co-pilot’s seat. “Perun’s gonna shit the bed when he finds out! When were you gonna say something, Bijou!?”

Bijou was laughing and I was confused.

“Oh, I dunno. I guessed you’d figured it out already,” she shrugged.

“Guys,” I said, concerned. “I’m confused again and you’re talking about me like I’m not here. I really hate it when you do that.”

“Shut your pretty little mouth and get dressed, Cutie.” Bijou said like I was a kid in the backseat of the car, “you’ve got some ass to kick shortly. Head in the game.”

“Okay...” My lip curled as I collected my things. “Hey, Stag?”

He looked down to meet my eyes.

“Yeah?”

“I’m gonna go get dressed,” I said like I was breaking instructions down for the simple minded. “In the bathroom.”

He flipped me off and I returned the gesture with a smile on my face.

I had to hurry though. We were running out of time before the ride became less than comfortable. I made it into the bathroom and stripped down to my underwear, stepping into that snug suit. Pulling it up over my shoulders, I looked for a zipper. Finding none, I pressed the material together where it seemed to conjoin and when I did, it sealed around my body.

Gasping in a panic I pulled at the material, scared that it was about to consume me like my blanket had in my dream. I stopped when I remembered who made it and laughed at myself.

“Shit,” I smiled, glancing up at myself in the...

My heart pounded. My blood felt like it stopped in my veins.

Standing in the bathroom mirror in front of me was the massive head and shoulders of the god of the underworld. I had gotten so excited I forgot about the mirror. Fear crept through my veins like a lethal injection.

His huge body was shot through with arrows, thorns, and brambles circling his arms and neck. Chroma’s glimmering white eyes shot light out from his sockets, permeating me with his stare. The entire bathroom was illuminated by that beautiful, terrifying light.

My bottom lip trembled.

He lifted his arm.

Balled up in his fist was blonde hair. He lifted his hand higher and stepped back. Dangling by her blood-soaked roots was the beaten, savaged body of my sister.

Her hands were twitching.

Her knuckles were raw and torn.

She’d been fighting for her life.

“Robin!” I climbed onto the sink and slammed my hands on the glass. “Robin! Oh my god. Oh my god, you sick, twisted- Let her go!” I slammed my little fist on the mirror. “Let her go you fuckin’ monster!”

The door of the bathroom burst open and Stagger rushed in beside me, grabbing me around the middle. I twisted, kicked and clawed at him.

“Let me go! He’s got my sister! I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you, Orcus. I’m gonna suck those eyes out of your fuckin’ head!”

“Charlie!” Stagger roared, slamming my back against the wall.

I glared at him, then back at the mirror, watching Orcus step backward into darkness, dragging Robin’s body with him.

“Did you see it? Did you see what he did to her!?”

“Yes.” Stagger said, his tone calm.

“We gotta get to her. Now!” I felt him grab my chin and force me to look at him.

“Charlie. Where do you think we’re going?”

My eyes fell away from his. My face twitched. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even know how to cry about it. The memory of Robin, my strong, powerful sister, broken like that.

“I think I’m gonna puke.”

I collapsed in front of the toilet and Stagger rubbed my back while I lost my pop-tarts.

“She was alive,” he said and I nodded gasping as I retched into the bowl again.

“Barely,” I said, my voice weak as I wiped my mouth with the towel hanging beside me. “I knew it. All this time I’ve been just fine... Robin’s been in the fuckin’ pit of hell.”

I told myself I wasn’t going to cry. I felt my eyes burning. I felt my vision cloud up.

“But she’s alive,” Stagger said again, “we’ll get her back. That I swear.”

I sat back against the wall feeling him stare at me.

Stagger never swore a day in his life. At least not to me.

“Alright,” I nodded.

“We’ve got work to do.”

“Yeah. I’m gonna finish gettin’ ready,” I said, taking his hand as he stood to help me up.

I saw him looking at me in the mirror, our bare hands touching. He stepped around behind me and wrapped his arms around my middle, resting his chin on top of my head.

“You are mighty,” I felt his arms hug me tighter, squeezing me against him.

“I guess we’ll see won’t we.” God, it felt good in his arms. Like I fit.

I lifted my hands to his wrists and rubbed my fingers over his skin.

“There’s nothing you can’t do. You’ve got Titan’s Strength.” He smiled and I twisted my lips.

“I don’t know what that means,” I said, trying to pull away from him.

He pulled me tighter. I didn’t want to resist.

“Charlie,” Stag said. “You eat Heart Fire.”

“What?”

“That’s how you beat the twins,” He nodded.

“Whoa, whoa- wait... I.. what? I don’t...” I remember the forges then. I remember how I felt like the fire was pouring into me. Like it was feeding me. Everybody else just described it as hot. I always described it as comforting. No matter how hot it got. It burned, but it felt good.

Realization dawned on my face.

“Wait, I thought all gods ate Heart Fire.”

“Yeah. Slowly. I mean, it takes almost an age for a god to recover all of their power after reincarnation. For you, you pretty much accomplished that in a few months.”

“What about my endurance?”

“That was the tip-off. There have been a few gods who could soak some damage, but nothing like you can. Another few years and I don’t think anybody’s gonna be able to do anything with you.”

“That’s insane,” I shook my head.

I couldn’t help but think back to all the violence I had come to know first hand in my life. Perhaps I was a little bitter that Titan’s Strength only found me now. Where was it when I was a scared girl running from bullies, or a grown woman suffering life’s many waves of abuse.

“Every celestial you face, every god you fight, every burning ember of Heart Fire you come near will only make you stronger. Only other god alive on this planet that can do that is sitting on the Bright Throne.”

He finally let me go, slipping away from me towards the door.

I watched him through the mirror, feeling the warmth of his body still on mine. The warmth of that hug. I felt the buzzing of the goosebumps running down my back, face and arms not just from him holding me, but from the implications of what Titan’s Strength meant. To everyone I had sworn to protect.

“That’s kind of a big deal,” He said and backed out of the bathroom, closing the door.

It wasn’t just luck on the Perch that saved my life. I drank enough Heart Fire to outlast the twins. And the longer I stayed in this world and around Bijou, Chroma, Stagger and anyone else, my ability to take punishment would only increase. My ability would only grow.

That thought blew my mind as I went to Bijou’s cabinet and found mouthwash.

Taking a big swallow of it, I had to force myself to wash it around in my mouth and actually spit it out. The sting of the alcohol content made my hands shake.

I looked at that bottle and wanted to down it. To turn it up and rummage through the cabinet and find another. And another. Maybe if there was enough in the cabinet I could black out and not have to feel so scared.

I looked at my shaking hands and forced myself to put the cap on the bottle. Somehow I managed to put it back in the cabinet and close it. I leaned against the cabinet door.

“Leave it alone. Leave it alone. Please, please...” I licked my lips, swallowing the taste of the mouthwash that remained in my mouth, savoring the familiar sting.

I pulled on the fingerless gloves that Brokkr and Starland made for me. They fit my small hands perfectly. The hard knuckles of Boreas metal over the gloves shining back at me.

I looked over at the shield by the door.

I felt the presence of that mirror looming in front of me like a shadow from another world. I didn’t want to look at it.

But I had to. I had to look at myself.

Pushing off of the cabinet, I turned to face... me.

I looked at the girl staring back at me. My short cropped hair, my white and navy armor outlining my body. She looked clothed in purpose. I hadn’t seen myself since I was a little girl. I had been afraid of mirrors my whole life.

I looked myself in the eyes then.

“Hey...” I lifted my hand and waved at myself.

“Long time no see.” I didn’t even know my own face.

My eyes felt like a stranger’s. I never had the experience of watching me grow into my adult face. The last me I saw was thirteen years old. The beautiful woman looking back at me with those sad, dark brown eyes was someone I never met. Like waking up from a coma.

I wanted to look away. I didn’t know if it was because I didn’t recognize my curly hair, so I lifted it with a hand and blocked it from view.

I still felt the pain of looking at a stranger.

My eyes retreated, looking away, accepting the fact that I would never be able to look me in the eyes again.

Or look in a mirror.

I didn’t know me.

“Robin... I’m comin’.”

I marched towards the door and lifted my shield, stowing it on my back as I stepped out into the ship, my boots thunking on the floor. I couldn’t help but notice I felt taller from the thick rubber under my feet.

“So this is what five foot two feels like,” I grinned and did a little dance.

I made my way out to the middle of the passenger floor, looking upward through the windshield. Ahead all I could see was rock faces. The side of an impossibly jagged and craggy wall. Arching spikes of electricity popped between them. Rolling chunks of cloud wafted all around us as the air turned turbulent. I reached up and tried to grab one of the bracing handles but I was too short.

“Figures,” I said just as Bijou hit the accelerator and rolled the ship hard right.

She pasted my little ass to the side wall.

“Ow!” I cried out.

Lightning flashed as we blasted into a thick chunk of a cloud. Thunder roared right after it, shaking the entire ship.

We spun back hard the other way to avoid a jutting stone ledge and I got bounced the other direction, groaning as I met another wall.

“Shit! Charlie!” She called back, “Stagger Lee, why didn’t you put the seats back up?!”

“Sorry,” Stag said, looking down and watching as I did an impression of a pinball machine.

I managed to roll in the air to land on my feet a few times but I couldn’t keep up with Bijou’s maneuvers. Stagger didn’t seem to care because he started laughing.

“Stag!” I yelled up at him.

“Right, right. Hold your horses boss lady.”

He tapped a few controls on the digital face in front of him and I caught one of the passenger seats as the rows extended from the wall behind Bijou, pulling myself into one.

Holding on to the armrests to hold myself in it, I shouted over my shoulder.

“Bijou... how do the seatbelts work!?”

I remembered my first trip in her ship when she suddenly decelerated and sent me under her dash.

“Slide the button from red to green, press it in, then connect the buckle. Release, then slide the button over to red to lock it back.” She said back, grunting as she pitched the ship upward, just avoiding a falling chunk of rock.

“Whoa!” Stagger ducked down in his seat, “Christ. That was on my side. Bijou, that was on my side!”

“Calm down, you big baby,” she said.

I struggled my way through those buckling instructions and sat back. I closed my eyes as we pitched, rolled and skirted our way through Lilith’s Run. Every time the ship pitched hard I thought it would be our last. I kept imagining us hurling into the side of the rock face and blowing up into a great puff of orange fire and smoke.

I was actually thankful to have my new shield on my back. It absorbed me slamming into the seat whenever Bijou sent us tumbling end over end or spiraling upward like a bottle rocket. The ship’s stabilizers were working overtime to keep the vomit inducing inertia to a minimum, but I was still feeling it. I had already thrown up what little I managed to eat for breakfast, so hanging on until the ride became smooth wasn’t really a problem. I just kept my eyes closed and rocked about in my seat hoping my complicated seatbelt was buckled properly.

Stagger had eventually hit his stride. Somewhere between losing his mind and enjoying the ride, he had grown confident in Bijou’s abilities as a pilot.

Thirty minutes later and he was laughing like a schoolboy on an amusement park ride.

Our path had grown a little less hectic, a little less bumpy and the turbulence let up as we broke through the cloud cover into a fairly straight portion of Lilith’s Run. My fingers loosened on the armrests of my chair and I allowed myself to breathe freely.

My mind wandered back to the image of Robin at the mercy of Orcus.

Bijou and Stagger were talking about me like I wasn’t there again. I ignored their chatter for the most part. I was thankful for their company though. As much as I was angry and scared for my sister’s condition, I was also worried about what we would be facing. The cat was clearly out of the bag. Orcus knew we were coming. He probably had reported what he’d seen in the mirror.

Me in this armor.

The Bifrost would be at the dock in under two hours. I looked at the digital screen in front of me that gave me a view from the front of the ship. My back was to Bijou and Stagger’s seats so this was the best I was going to get. The sky was so far away in this dark chasm. I could only see brief glimpses of it miles above like a grey lightning bolt standing still in the sky when a particular curve in Lilith’s Run allowed us to see all the way up. Brief little places where the walls were relatively flat and the falling rocks and pockets of cloud parted just enough.

I tried to focus on what Stagger and I had been drilling the last few days. Defense. Defensive offense. Using my body as a weapon instead of a weapon. I still had my Atma Sword in my inventory though, just in case.

I then thought about the new things I’d acquired and smiled.

“Shiny,” I said, my travel icon hovering out in front of me.

“Aye?” It said back.

“Can I add to my multi-tool inventory?”

“Would you like to add your present armaments, Lass?”

“Yes.”

Multi-tool Inventory:

SLOT 1: Wing Propulsion

SLOT 2: Atma Sword

SLOT 3: Forgemaster’s Timepiece

SLOT 4: Forgemaster’s Armor (modified)

SLOT 5: EMPTY

“Would you like to make any other changes, Love?”

“No. What’s today?”

“Sunday, Wee Lass.”

“Oh. Hey, can you open the Appstore?”

A second digital screen burst to life in front of me.

TIIL MARKETPLACE / Free Sunday Event!

Shop now!

“Oh, awesome,” I said, trying to find anything to distract myself from what was coming.

I browsed through the marketplace for several minutes looking at different wing propulsion styles that all had a cost. There were also a few ornamental weapon downloads. It seemed they didn’t sell actual usable weapons this way, just ways to decorate one presently owned. Which made sense. I took an incidental search out for the word ‘Gun’ and what came back was a pop-up warning.

Firearms are outlawed in the Skylands. Please check your search and try a different parameter. Order of the Bright Throne. Any illegal downloads or multi-tool assimilation of firearm technology will result in immediate arrest by NEST officials. Punishable by twenty years imprisonment and up to a two-hundred thousand bolta fine.

For some reason that wasn’t surprising to me. Scrolling back through accessories and cosmetics I found something that had zero cost during the sale.

1x Wing Propulsion Cosmetic Color Kit.

I downloaded it with a tap of my finger, reading the instructions as it added itself to my empty slot. Opening it, it took me a few minutes to figure out how things worked. It brought up a scaled down, digital version of my wing and it’s full tawny color. I felt a little guilty changing the color parameters Siobhan had set, but I pushed forward anyway. I loved her and what she meant to me but I wasn’t Siobhan. I was Charlie Ryan.

I altered the tawny shade to white and navy like my armor. I hesitated for a moment more in thought before I clicked the confirm button.

Wing Propulsion color successfully modified.

“Goodbye, Siobhan. And thank you so much,” I whispered.

I went back into the Appstore and rummaged around for a little bit longer. I made my way over to Travel Icon Behavior Packs and scrolled through. All of the good stuff was expensive. At least I assumed. I still wasn’t sure what a bolta was in dollars and cents. I saw an interesting skull and crossbones one but it cost money, not to mention the section labeled Battle Behaviors. Those started at thousands of boltas.

When I finally got to the free items, the only things available were silly ice cream cone behaviors, a trash-talking trash can, an invisible behavior, and a golden metal owl. Curling my lip at it, I read it’s name out loud.

“Bubo the golden, clockwork owl that communicates through a simple pattern of beeps. Let Bubo warm your heart and help you through your day. Guaranteed to clash with titans. What?” Blowing a hard sigh, I tapped the download button and rolled my eyes.

“Whatever.”

My travel icon whirled around once and disappeared. When it faded back in, it was a short, stout mechanical owl whose head whirled about. Its wings flapped up and down mechanically, it’s lifeless eyes flashing in the reflective light from the inner cabin of Bijou’s ship.

It beeped at me a few times and I just waved my hand, going back into HUD only mode.

I downloaded the invisible behavior as well, just because it was free.

“Hang on!” I heard Bijou yell, snapping me to attention.

My hands wrapped around the grips on my armrest, my digital screen disappearing.

“What’s going on?” I asked, looking at the windshield display.

“We’re cresting. Five minutes to the surface,” she said and my stomach felt like worms had come alive in it.

“There it is. There’s the Lighthouse, hold your shit!” Stagger shouted just as the ship whipped hard to the left.

Everyone on board gave a groan as we lurched back upright in our seats.

“Ahh! Fuck!” I yelled, staring at my display, watching us barely make it around the thick jutting tower of the Lighthouse sticking out sideways from the rock wall. It had a massive bulb whirling about at its very tip, splashing light into my field of view.

“Sorry!” Bijou said, “The updrafts are kicking our asses right now, Stagger, aft stabilizers!”

“On it!” He called back.

“Get ready to prime us. Radiant Stone wide open in three, two, go!”

I could feel my breath picking up as she threw us this way and that in the ship, avoiding the last vestiges of huge boulders caught in the updraft with us. Launched from the zero gravity pockets below, those boulders flew up high above us, then came falling back down. I slammed my eyes shut and just tried to focus. To breathe.

“Are you okay?” Stagger called back to me.

“Yeah,” I rattled my head up and down.

“It’s okay, Charlie. We’ll be fine,” Stag said, gripping the handle above his head.

I blew a number of heavy breaths like I was about to have a baby. My eyes were darting around the cabin. I needed air. I felt myself swallow hard and then the words of my friends came back to me while the ball ship waded to and fro.

“Go boldly and mighty forces will aid your hands,” Chroma and Sindri had said.

“Fight like you want to win!” Starland’s voice rang in my head.

I took a last deep breath as the ship rolled back upright, rattling us so hard I thought the entire ship would fall apart. We burst into the light of a brilliant blue eastern sky. The hard turbulence suddenly stopped. Looking at it through my display, my mouth fell open at its majesty and for one peaceful moment, everything seemed to stop.

“We’re through,” Stagger said, “Good shit, Bijou.”

“It’s what I do,” she said, adjusting settings on the ship’s digital consoles above.

I set my travel icon out and it beeped and clicked, producing a map of the world in front of me.

We were at an elevation level of three, almost four. But the weather box in the bottom of the map said that from elevation level three and up, there were no cloudlines today. More importantly, the sun was sitting at true east. The light was hitting the side of the planet and pouring over all the upper lands. I looked up to see high above the blotting shadow of a huge land mass, making the sky look like a blue band between the rock above and the horizon below.

“Level horizon,” Bijou said.

“Yeah, I see that, Bee. Can I unclench my asscheeks now?” Stagger said.

“Yes, Stagger. You can unclench your asscheeks, you have my permission.” She replied.

I unbuckled my overly complicated seatbelt as the ship leveled, bringing the windshield and all of our seats back down to level with the floor below. As I did, I was able to walk without falling toward the front of the ship with Stagger and Bijou. I saw sprawling out in front of me probably one of the prettiest things I had ever laid eyes on. A golden and white city with buildings sprouting up high above it. Thousands of ball shuttles flew in lines through the sky and on the ground.

Bijou slowed our path, merging into the traffic of the larger ball ship lanes, following them into the heart of the city. From high above, at the center of the city, a large waterfall fell from the landmass above. It’s contents dropped at free fall speed, filling a massive pink lake surrounding the Bacchus Theater estate.

“Welcome to Sodom & Gomorrah. The Sister Cities,” Stagger said, pointing out through the windshield. “To the east of that miasmic pink lake is Sodom, to the west, Gomorrah. One city claims to be the city of hedonism, the other claims to be the city of excess. Frankly, I can’t tell the fucking difference. This is where you go when you have too much money and don’t care to be told what you can and can’t do with it. Outside of basic laws like traffic, civility and a penalty of death by petrification if you murder someone unlawfully, there are very few rules here.”

“Sounds like Hollywood. Only people don’t get petrified there, they just get attacked on social media by social justice warriors. And usually, for the pettiest, most idiotic, soft-skinned bullshit you’ve ever heard. Not to mention cancel culture.” I replied.

“Cancel culture?” Bee asked.

“Yeah. Y’know, when a bunch of people who aren’t even involved in somethin’ jump online and rage about firing people or canceling careers like they themselves never stole a cheesecake or fucked a neighbor. Just people wantin’ somethin’ to bitch about in unison.” I said.

“The mob has spoken,” Stagger chuckled.

“Yeah, well, you haven’t even seen petty until you see this place. Don’t trust anyone. Everyone here has an angle. We’re here to do one thing and one thing only. Get to the Bifrost. That’s all that matters,” Bijou said.

Stagger and I both nodded.

“Right.” We agreed.

It felt weird having gravity the right way up again. I caught Bijou’s silver eyes looking at me.

“I finally got my own flashy costume,” My smile turned into a grin as I turned to face her, pulling my shield off my back to strike a pose. “How do I look?”

“Like a super cute superhero,” She smiled back, “You ready?”

I nodded, “Yeah... I think. Ready as I’m gonna get.” I looked out of the windshield at the unending sprawl of the twin cities.

I squatted down on the balls of my feet, hands resting on my standing shield between Bijou and Stagger’s seats. I took a few sobering breathes and nodded my head again, offering a silent prayer to whatever god was the god of pure, dumb luck.

I felt Bijou pull us out of the flow of traffic and turn her ball ship straight for the Bacchus Theater.

“Stag.”

“Yeah, Charlie?”

“Hold my hand,” I held it out to him.

“Really?” He said, turning his head to look down at me. “You never-..”

“Hold my goddamn hand, man!”

“Okay!” He said, reaching down to squeeze my smaller hand in his.

Bijou set the pod on autopilot and stood up. She walked back to the back of the pod and started her own battle preparations.

“This is it,” Stag said as I stood, watching that pink waterfall draw ever closer.

“I’m coming, Robin... Help is on the way.” I looked back at Bijou standing there in her sleek armor.

She set her black hair free and with a clap of her hands, she pulled them apart in a shower of blue twinkling lights, spawning her broad claymore into her waiting grip.

“Alright. Let’s go pick a fight,” She said with a grim smile on her face.

Stag released my hand and stood up. He slipped out from behind his chair, pulling that black, straight scabbard from thin air, it’s grip wrapped in pitch black cords.

“War. Good god,” he shook his head, putting his hand on my shoulder, then burst into song, “What is it good for!? Absolutely nothing!”

I gave him a nudge out of the way with my shield.

“There is something wrong with you,” I said, rolling my eyes as I passed.

I slipped my right arm into the forearm straps of the Forgemaster’s Timepiece, pulling the strap tight around my right palm. Sindri and Brokkr remembered I was a lefty. I flexed the Nemean Lion glove at my left and took another steadying breath. In my vision, I saw a short phrase and lifted an eyebrow at it.

Nemean Glove: Charging...

“Wherever those powerful forces are... I really hope they’re waiting to come to the aid of my hands.” I said, moving to the door of the ship with Stagger and Bijou, preparing for our landing. “Cus it’s too late to stop me now.”