As the World Breaks Apart

The earth shattered beneath them as in the sky a horrible storm broke loose. Once more, Berus thanked his automaton’s wonderful sense of balance as it was the only thing that kept them from tumbling down. Around them, the rain and wind beat against his metal, and water ran down his vision orb.

“We’re falling! We’re falling!” Mikkah’s voice cut through the storm as she clung to him.

“Go get that dragon,” Ki-Rai yelled instead, her voice as clear as ever.

Berus just continued to jump from one piece of the shard to the next. He didn’t want to think the damage the falling pieces would cause to the main shard undernreath them. He didn’t want to think what damage would happen to them if they fell.

Behind them, the dragon roared at them. What did he do to make it so angry?

“Right. The lightning.”
In the game, it was one of the most simple tactics to draw the dragon’s aggro. And now, it was on him, with no way for them to calm said dragon down.

He cursed under his breath.

“Are you alright?” Mikkah put her face close to his head so she didn’t have to scream.

“Everything’s fine! It’s just a little windy!”

His laughter was swallowed by thunder, and the roar of the dragon. And said dragon was still what Berus focused on. Its wings flapped heavily, as if it didn’t wish to stay in the air any longer. It stopped biting the temple shard as well, but Berus could see parts of it crumbled between the dragon’s teeth. The dragon followed his movements with slow, deliberate head motions.

“Get closer to him! Now, punch him! In the face!”

Ki-Rai was having fun. Too much fun, maybe, but… what choice did they have?

“You know what? Disregard what I said before. That’s not a bad idea.”

“Huh?!”

Both Mikkah and Ki-Rai were surprised for a second, just like the dragon was, as Berus sprinted right into its direction. He jumped, his new legs so much stronger and faster than his old body could ever be, and landed right on the dragon’s nose. The wind around him was warmer here, but it still threatened to push Berus. If the dragon moved…

And move it did. It shook its head as if trying to get rid of Berus, and then it clawed at its own face, trying to get them off. Berus ran towards the monster’s eye, dodging the claws and keeping himself steady by grabbing the spikes around him.

This was stupid.

“This is awesome!” Ki-Rai laughed. “Oh wow, I really feel alive!”

But around the eye, the spikes were smaller, and the dragon could see him again. It tilted its head, and suddenly, they were in the air. Mikkah screamed.

“Hold tight!”

His mana bar had steadily gone up. He could afford another lightning bolt or two. And again, he didn’t use it to directly attack the dragon, but instead, to direct it closer to the shard. Maybe they could get far enough down that they wouldn’t die on impact. Maybe they could just leave the dragon, and…

It hissed, and clawed at them. Berus twisted in the air as best as he could, and grabbed the monster’s leg. One of its claws tore a piece off of his upper tigh, and sharp white pain flooded his system.

“Don’t let go! Climb up and punch that thing!” Ki-Rai screamed. “Don’t. Let. Go!”

“I’m trying,” he hissed.

His leg was limping, but it was still attached to his main body. He tried to ignore his little status icon, now pulsating in red everywhere. He knew it was bad, with all the pain that twisted his soul.

Right. He turned his head around.

“Mikkah? Are you alright?”

He didn’t have to worry about Ki-Rai. She was doing just as well or as bad as he was. But Mikkah was made out of flesh and blood, and so much more squishier than he was. But she gave him a faint thumbs-up.

“All good. Just a little sick, that’s all…”

“Then focus on holding on tight. This is not going to get better.”
“That’s not what I wanted to hear,” she groaned.

“As long as you can complain, you’re doing good.”
“By Lucine, you’re horrible.” But in those last few words was a hint of laughter.

Good. She was doing remarkably well for their situation. Probably because she was more accustomed to danger than she should be. But right now, he was thankful for that.

“Tell me when he tries to attack again,” he said. “I’m going to climb higher.”
Once or twice, he cast another lightning bolt, getting as close to the shard as he could. The dragon flew through the sky, twisting and turning, but Berus gripped the spikes so hard that they cracked in a few places. And with that he continued his journey up the dragon’s leg, over its shoulder and towards its neck.

Considering what little experience he had with actual danger in his old life, he should have been scared out of his mind. This was worse than anything he could ever imagine. But some sort of soul adrenaline flowed through his body, boosted by Ki-Rai’s bloodthirst. He felt so alive, like this was the best day of his life instead of the worst.

Maybe he was getting a little crazy. But at least it didn’t show on the outside.

“Watch out! It’s coming!”

He ducked between two spikes on the dragon’s neck, dodging the claw that tried to get rid of him.

“Great catch,” he said.

“You’re welcome.”
He cast another lightning bolt down towards the shard. He was pretty proud, not only of his tactic, but their actual teamwork.

“Get him! Get him good!” she laughed.

It was just the right mood to get him to push on.

“W-why are you getting closer to its face again?” Mikkah asked.

“To punch the dragon,” Ki-Rai giggled. “Right? Right?”

“Right. To punch the dragon.”

“What?!”

“It won’t leave us alone. We can’t kill it.”

“Not with that attitude,” Ki-Rai muttered.

Berus continued. “But we can frighten it. Pretend that we’re stronger than we are.”

“Booring.”

At least he hoped this plan would work out. He waited for the arm to try and catch him once more, and then climbed as fast as he could towards the dragon’s eye. One glance at the shard below him was enough to confirm they were closer to the ground than ever before.

“And that’s it. Good night,” he said.

With that, he activated his [Basic Punch] once more and struck the dragon right into its vulnerable eye. It howled with pain and surprise.

“Yeah! Again! Hit it again!” Ki-Rai screamed, and put on a little dance.

But Berus never got the chance. This time, the dragon shook its head more forcefully, and Berus lost his grip on the small spike.

They could only scream as they tumbled through the air.

Under them was a long stretch of grassland, with only a single, tiny farm to be seen. Berus tried his best to steer them in that direction.

“Shit–Nys’ tits, where is that–” Mikkah was frantically pulling out things out of her inventory, and some of her tools got lost in the storm. “There! My parachute!”

With those words, she activated said parachute. It was small, and probably not made to hold his weight, but it worked well enough to slightly soften their fall. Still, they tumbled downwards, faster than they should.

Berus opened his arms, making sure they would land with him face-forward. He could probably take a little more damage than Mikkah did. And if she was caught underneath him, it would all be over. The dragon was all but forgotten.

Then, it all turned black.