Thirstfall - Memory of a Returnee

I’m in the air, running solutions through my head at a speed I don’t have the altitude to sustain.

"MOTORHEAD!"

Oliver’s voice. A dull metallic crack echoes through the sanctuary—steel meeting dense bone.

He’s already at the Turtarex’s flank. He brought the full weight of the hammer down on the rear leg, and the impact was hard enough to shift the joint sideways. The angle of the limb buckles.

Timing. Perfect.

The Turtarex stumbles. Not fully—a hitch, a half-second loss of balance. Enough to snap its jaws shut and look behind it.

Everything happened in two seconds.

I throw my weight forward and drive Eventide into the creature’s eye.

The blade meets resistance like steel on steel. The cut doesn’t go deep—it skids across the surface, carving a shallow gash. The Turtarex whips its head sideways to protect the eye, and the motion catches me mid-stroke.

I fly backward like a bullet.

My back hits a pillar. The marble cracks behind me. A gush of blood pours from my nose. Pain floods my chest and spine in a single wave.

I check OXI on reflex.

[OXI: 1,420 / 1,600]

I look at the crater my body left in the pillar. Fractured marble. A dent six inches deep.

This armor is incredible.

An impact like that would have put me near death before the Horizon. Now it’s a nosebleed and bruised ribs.

I stand spitting blood and wiping my mouth.

Interesting...

"Incoming fire," Lola says. Voice completely bored. Catching all of us off guard.

I duck behind the cracked pillar. Oliver throws himself into a roll toward cover. Rhayne is already shielded.

The shot arrives before the sound does, in the lateral.

KA-BOOM!

My ears ring. White noise fills the left side of my head.

"Yes!" Oliver pumps a fist from behind his pillar. "Nice one, little lady!"

Flames and dust blanket the Turtarex.

Seconds pass.

The scene clears.

The shot left scratches. Abrasions. Minor surface damage on the shell. The Turtarex absorbed Lullaby’s round the way I’d absorb a heavy slap.

This is going to turn into a war of attrition. And in a war of attrition against a Rank B, we die.

I need to change the equation.

I read the field.

Lullaby damaged the floor more than it damaged the Turtarex. The ricocheted shot from earlier blew a massive hole in the ceiling. The acid wads dissolved chunks of pillar.

I look at the pillar behind me. The crater where my back hit. Cracked marble.

I look at the ceiling. At the floor. At the pillar again.

Something clicks.

"Lola!" I shout. "Third pillar to the right of the entrance! Hit the base!"

"Hm?" She looks confused. "Why?"

"Don’t ask! Shoot!"

She reloads fast and fires.

Lullaby growls. The round crosses the hall and strikes the base of the third pillar at a downward angle. Thanks to her bad aim.

The explosion shatters the marble in a massive cloud of white dust. The base now has an exposed fracture—big enough to make my cover harder.

"Boss, why did she shoot the pillar?!" Oliver yells.

I ignore him. I don’t have to explain.

The Turtarex reacts to the sound. Swings its head toward the shot. The cannons on its back begin telescoping, aiming at Lola’s position.

"Oops," Lola says, hiding behind her pillar.

I need its attention. Now.

"Oliver! Draw it to me! Noise, not damage!"

Oliver doesn’t question. He sprints from behind his cover and slams Motorhead into the ground beside the Turtarex. The floor cracks into big fissures and the sanctuary shakes below the monster.

The echo rolls wide.

The Turtarex turns—but not halfway. It spins a full three-sixty, sweeping everything in its radius in defensive mode.

Fast. Too fast.

The tail comes.

Oliver sees it and tries to roll.

But almost makes it.

The impact catches him on the side of the torso. Not flush—glancing—but a glancing hit from a Rank B is still a Rank B hit. Oliver’s body leaves the floor, rotates once in the air, and slams into the far wall of the sanctuary.

He hits flat and falls. Doesn’t move. His hammer skids across the marble and stops ten feet away from him, spinning to a halt.

"OLIVER!"

Rhayne is already running toward him. I shout after her:

"Check him! Tell me if he’s breathing!"

Two seconds. The longest two seconds of the fight. Rhayne drops beside him, touches his neck.

"Alive! Breathing! But his ribs—" She presses along his side, reading the swelling. "Cracked. Maybe broken."

Alive. Good enough for now.

I’ll deal with guilt later. Right now I need what he did to mean something.

I ignite Eventide and roll the hilt between my fingers. The blade produces a low, ghostly hum that fills the hall.

The Turtarex is looking at me now. Eyes tracking. Cannons adjusting. It’s deciding between shooting and charging.

I need it to charge.

I run straight at it.

Eventide exposed, screaming, the shadow-blade carving the air. Maximum aggression. Everything that makes a predator decide I’m the biggest threat in the room.

I’m not trying to cut it. I’m making myself impossible to ignore. Rhayne needs time.

The Turtarex decides.

Head down. Four legs planted. It charges.

I pivot with [Pressured Step] drifting and run. The Horizon responds—boots biting marble, legs driving hard, air entering easier than it ever has. The full force of Rank C stats pushing through a Rank E frame.

I love it.

The ground passes fast beneath me.

Behind me, eight tons accelerate. The marble cracks under its strides. The vibration climbs up through my boots and into my knees.

I’m counting distance while I run. The third and the fourth pillar to the right of the entrance are my only option for cover.

The floor shakes with every stride of the beast. The gap closing. I feel the air being pushed ahead of its mass—hot, wet, smelling of iron and acid.

Sixty feet.

Thirty.

Fifteen.

I plant my boots and turn around, facing it.

I stand directly in front of the fractured pillar.

The Turtarex is ten feet out. Head low, showing his shell first. Eight tons aimed at my chest.

"DRYDEN!" Rhayne screams.

"Uncle..." Lola whispers, shocked.

I don’t move.

Fear protects. But courage overcomes.