Holding On

He swayed to the side as the ladder was pulled taut. A hot breeze traveled by him.

“Here! Take my hand now!”

Once again, she held out one of her hands, while the other was wrapped around the anchored part of the bridge. This time, he actually took her hand, and together, they managed to pull him up on the shard.

Under them, the rumbling of the dragon was loud enough to shake the earth. Just as he crawled away from the edge of the shard, the pillars stuck deep into the earth were pulled out, falling down with the rest of the bridge into the dragon’s mouth. If they had been only a few heartbeats later, and he would have fallen in, as well.

“That was too close,” she huffed.

“Just why is the Fledgling World Eater here?” he wondered.

This wasn’t the boss area. The cave where it lived was pretty difficult to get to, and he always had to prepare for the fight with his group. There was no way for any player to just stumble upon it. So what was it doing out here in the wild?

“A dragon… I thought they were only stories.” Slowly, Mikkah shook her head.

“Wait, what? If that’s the case, I wonder what other monsters have died out.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Oh, nothing that could stop us.” He gave her a thumbs-up. “We’re the heroes of prophecy, after all.”

She smiled at him. “I take it that gesture means something positive. And you’re right. Nothing can stop us, for we’re the heroes.” Then, she gave him a thumbs-up back.

He resisted the urge to just lie down on the grass. The dragon was still circling underneath them, and Berus wasn’t sure how well the tiny shard would hold up. “Let’s retreat into the temple again for a bit.”

“But… the shard is untethered now,” Mikkah worried. “It will float now that the bridge is gone.”

“That’s exactly why we’re retreating. We’ll make a plan on how we’ll get back to the main shard without angering the dragon further.”

“That sounds good.”

They held each other as they slowly made their way over to the ruined temple. Even though his body was metal, it hurt all over. New scratches and dents decorated his arms, and surely the rest of his body.

“Boring,” Ki-Rai commented.

“It’s not boring, it’s the only reasonable thing to do,” Berus shot back, “If you want me to fight more, I gotta live.”
“Urgh. Fine.”

“Why are you talking to yourself?” Mikkah asked. “You’ve done it before.”

“I told you about the little ghost, didn’t I? I’m talking to it. Sorry, that must be confusing.”

“It does sound like something demonic,” she admitted. “I’m not sure you should listen to it.”

“Hey!” Ki-Rai butted in. “Don’t you two talk about me like I’m not here!”

“Yeah,” Berus said to Mikkah, delighting in annoying the imp only he could see and hear, “I would try to ignore it, but it’s just too obnoxious.”

“Grrr… Is this the thanks I get for helping you out on the bridge?” Ki-Rai hissed. “What a hero you are.”

That made him think for a moment.

“You’re right,” he sighed. “Thank you for that.”

“You shouldn’t thank a demon!” Mikkah said.

“You should thank the one who saved your sorry ass,” Ki-Rai said, even if Mikkah couldn’t hear her. “And if you refer to me as an ‘it’ one more time I will haunt you until the end of time.”

“Aren’t you doing that already?”

“I’ll do it a thousand times worse.”

He stopped. Ki-Rai was right. If he was in her position… yes, he too would hate not to be taken seriously. To not be seen as a person. That was what annoyed him the most about certain players, wasn’t it? If they just saw his avatar and assumed something about him, instead of listening to what he was saying or seeing what he was doing.

“I’m sorry,” he said, again. “I won’t do it again.”

But if she kept talking about his demise, or how she would torment him, he would still hold that against her.

Ki-Rai let out a laugh, clearly satisfied. “Good soul.”

“Call me Berus, then. Not soul, not machine, not coward or anything els. Let’s meet on equal terms, Ki-Rai.”

That made her change her attitude quickly. “I won’t promise anything.”

He let out a sigh. This was more annoying than he had thought it would be.

“Um… Berus? Could I take a look at your body?”

Mikkah sat close to him, and looked at him with her eyes full of expectation. It made him twitch.

“H-huh? What? Why?”

Only then did she realize how she had phrased it. Her face turned red.

“I didn’t mean it like that! I just want to see if the automaton took any lasting damage.”

“Oh. Riiiiight. Well, if my mechanic says so…” He let out a laugh.

“You’re an idiot,” she mumbled.

She continued to mutter to herself, but he tuned her out, just like he tried very hard not to focus on what she was doing. Out of her inventory, she pulled her tools, and tinkered with him. It was a strange feeling. Somehow, it was both more calming and weirder than going to the doctor. Her touch was firm but gentle as she moved his joints, opened his panels, and adjusted his wires. And all while she was doing so, he looked out into the grey sky.

They were drifting towards the main shard, still. So far so good.

“Alright, the damage’s still there but nothing should break now,” she finally said. “I’ve modified your fists a bit so they should pack more of a punch. That’s what you wanted, right?”

“Good thinking,” Ki-Rai commented.

“Sounds great!” He opened and closed his fists. Even just by doing so he could tell they were both stronger and more flexible. “I love getting modifications.”

“Oh. Whew. Thank Lucine for that. Because, um…” She shifted around. “I also added a few handles to your back, so I can climb easier and sit there, if you don’t mind?”

“Uh, alright.” That was definitely a little weirder. “Why would you want to sit there?”

“Ah! It’s not whatever you think! It’s for more modifications! Modifications only!”

He let out a laugh. “That’s not very elvish of you.”

“I can’t believe you’re teasing me right now,” she grumbled. “The dragon’s still there.”
She was right. They could still hear the dragon, and the storm also didn’t stop.

“How are you feeling, then?” he asked. “Do you need a break?”

She shook her head. “We’ll take a break once we’re out of this. Before that it makes little sense.”

“Alright. As soon as we’re on the main shard again we’ll take it easy.”

“Sounds good.”

She grinned at him, and gave him a thumbs-up.

“Let me test my new punch, then.”

He stood up, and punched in the direction of one of the temple’s pillars. This time, his punch was much stronger, and actually blasted a piece of stone away.

“Huh. That’s nice.”

“Awesome! Now punch the dragon!” Ki-Rai seemed even more enthusiastic than him.

“Uh, no. I will definitely not do that.”

But whatever else he had planned vanished as the dragon came into view once more. For a moment, Berus stared right at its yellow eye. Even though it was small compared to its body, it was still just as big as his fist, if not bigger. Cold and without eyelids, the dragon stared at him.

“I guess our little break’s over,” he yelled at Mikkah. “Let’s think of a strategy.”

“Come on! Punch him!”

“A strategy? How about we run away?”

“Good call.”

He ran in her direction, and she was nimble enough to actually climb onto his shoulders.

“I thought that was for when you work on my body?”

“And also for running away!”

And that he did. Not a moment too late, as behind them, the dragon bit into the temple shard.