The End

The Delkin was reaching down to feast on another kad when a massive boulder dropped from the sky—crushing it flat. It lay unmoving, half its body pinned beneath the rock.

Maizy was proud of herself.  That should do the trick!  Her eyes glowed blue and orange as she kept her memory fast-forwarded as far as it could go while maintaining her magical serpent sight.

Here comes the moment of truth!  She was ready to rocket away at the first hint of the music’s pull. There was no effect!  YES!

She could still hear—and feel—the isopod beat, but her memory sight ruined the rhythm. The two patterns clashed into something utterly undanceable, canceling each other out. The RGB lights became nothing more than odd orange laser beams crisscrossing the courtyard.

Then she noticed the cuttlekin—there were a lot of them. They stood frozen, staring at her and the boulder in shock. A few froskin were scattered around the courtyard, punching at the air, hoping to catch a cuttlekin off guard.

Maizy hissed, then began her slaughter. Cuttlekin body parts flew, ink and blood misting the courtyard.

"GET RID OF THE ISOPODS!" boomed a familiar voice from above. Maizy looked up to see Mr. Un directing the tree frogs from the canopy. "WE'LL CONTINUE EVACUATING THE KADS."

So that’s why there’s only a few hundred left.  Maizy pumped her fist.  THANK YOU, FROSKIN!

She did as Mr. Un asked, tossing isopods off the tree—she didn’t feel the need to kill them. It wasn’t their fault they knew how to party. She also gathered a few untouched rainbow fruits into a pile.  Maybe I’ll... have one later.  The thought made her grin.

Then a portal opened and more isopods and rainbow fruits poured into the courtyard.  ARGH! There’s no end to this!  Maizy wondered if she could fly through to the other side. She decided to try before it closed.

Maizy shot toward the portal. All she saw was a bright orange circle where the isopods tumbled through. She thrust her ruler out in front, ready to skewer whatever was on the other side.

The instant her body touched the portal, her momentum collapsed to a walking pace and she tumbled down a ramp on the other side. She scrambled up and looked around.

This is the same island where we rescued the enslaved kads!

The cuttlekin had built another portal in the exact same spot. Beside it lay an enormous pile of rainbow fruit—thousands!—and open crates overflowing with isopods.

In no time at all, the island was littered with cuttlekin parts and isopods feasting on rainbow fruit.

Maizy considered her options.  I should destroy the portal... But then I’d have to fly all the way back to the tree.  She thought about how long that would take, then shrugged—it didn’t really matter.

She smacked the portal with her hardened ruler. It bounced off!

Must have a hardening symbol somewhere.  Maizy searched for it, planning to scratch it out. When she couldn’t find it, she shrugged—then picked up the entire portal like it was luggage and flew off.

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As the tree came into view, Maizy saw no bright lights. Night had fallen, so they would’ve stood out. She heard no music either, so she dropped her memory and serpent vision powers. Leaving the portal at the tree’s base, she flew up to the courtyard.

Chaos greeted Maizy as she reached the courtyard. Mom was battling the Delkin.  I thought I killed it! How did it survive!?  The bark beneath her was carpeted with corpses—kads, cuttlekin, and granoliths, all casualties of the long fight.

Maizy watched Mom hurl purple void balls at the Delkin. Each one tore holes in its body—but the wounds closed too fast for her to gain ground.

The Delkin screamed in rage. The void balls hurt. Each time it lunged at Mom, she hurled another at its head. The Delkin either dodged aside or caught it—losing a hand in the process.

GO MOM!  Maizy landed at the courtyard’s edge and watched. She wanted to help, but fatigue dragged at her—the toddler kind—her magic reserves were full.

Then disaster struck. Mom severed the Delkin’s hand at the wrist—but its momentum carried the hand forward, pinning her to the ground.

"YES! FINALLY!" the Delkin roared, swooping down to stab Mom in the chest—between its own severed fingers.

NO! NO NO NO NO!  Maizy's eyes flooded with tears.  MOM! NO!

Mr. Un then dropped onto the Delkin’s head from above and hacked at its face.

"OW! THAT HURTS!" The Delkin clawed for him, but he had already buried himself deep enough in its skull to hold fast. It slammed into the side of the Post Office—leaving a Mr. Un–shaped indentation—then shot through the canopy into the sky.

Maizy darted to Mom's side.

She was still breathing! Blood gushed from the wound in rhythmic spurts, staining the bark, Maizy’s feet—everything.

Maizy collapsed over Mom, sobbing, her tiny claws trembling as she pressed against the wound.  What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?

Mom’s eyes fluttered open. Her lips quivered into the faintest smile.

"Maizy," she whispered, the sound barely audible. Her voice was so thin it barely stirred the air. "Oh, Maizy... I'm so sorry."

Maizy could only shake her head as tears rained down onto her mother's chest.

"I would’ve loved..." Her voice faltered. Her breath hitched.

"I would've loved to hear your voice."

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The Delkin slammed onto the courtyard—shaking the entire tree—Mr. Un clutched in her hand.

She laughed. "Finally! The only enemy who could kill me is dead!"

She squeezed with all her strength, but Mr. Un only stared back, unimpressed. She smashed him against the tree again and again, but that didn't work either.

"ARGH! WHY WON'T YOU DIE!?"

"You’re too late, Delkin," Mr. Un boomed. "Most of the kads are already evacuated."

The Delkin laughed again. "Hah! You think that matters?" She swept a hand at the carnage in the courtyard. "This is only a fraction of my forces! I will return in a few dozen wobbles with an army of Delkin to crush you all!"

"Impossible!" Mr. Un boomed. "The gods themselves said you were the last Delkin. Yes—we knew you were alive. Somewhere."

The Delkin grinned, revealing rows of poorly kept, sickly yellow teeth. "Oh, I was.  I was!  Hahaha! But thanks to the wizards' technology, I laid a clutch of eggs. They’re incubating as we speak!"

Mr. Un looked horrified. He knew the wizards could manage such feats. If the Delkin had gotten her claws on their reproductive tools, Gnotus was doomed.

The Delkin jerked aside—just in time to avoid another boulder drop from Maizy.

"YOU!" It spotted Maizy charging with Slope’s makeshift weapon. "YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!"

Maizy slammed the sword-club-thing directly into the Delkin's forehead.

It instantly crumbled to dust.

What!?  How!?

Maizy froze for only an instant before dodging the Delkin’s other hand.

The Delkin studied her. "A god warned me about you, y’know." It stopped flying and settled its bulk down. "But I don't know what he was talking about. You’re just a baby! Hahaha!" The Delkin laughed, eyes locked on Maizy. "He didn’t say you were a black kad. Or that you could fly. How do you do that? I’ll spare this tree frog if you tell me."

Maizy squinted at the Delkin.  Mr. Un is obviously fine.

"ARGH! TELL ME!" The Delkin slammed its tail against the tree. "Your entire species is about to go extinct! Soon all of you will be dead—just like that dumb Proscribrarian!" She pointed at Mom.

This evil thing has to die!  Then a thought struck.

Maizy hissed with rage, signed furiously at the Delkin, then blasted off like a rocket. The launch was so powerful it generated a gentle BOOM.

The Delkin just laughed. "Hah! What did it say?"

Mr. Un—who was still clutched in the Delkin's hand—translated, "She asked a question: 'Extinction?'" Then he froze, a sudden understanding smashing into his mind.

"Does she not know what the word means?"  Well, she is very young.  The Delkin shrugged.

Mr. Un paused for as long as he thought he could get away with, then laughed—making it sound as authentic as he could.

"What are you laughing at? You're about to die! You're all about to die!"

"Oh, she knows what it means." Mr. Un smiled at the Delkin. "That’s not all she said." He decided this was the perfect time to be dramatic—so why not?

"Tell me what she said, or I will torture each kad before I eat them!"

"Alright, alright," Mr. Un placated. "Here’s what she said, in full." He let the silence stretch to the breaking point, then bellowed, "Extinction? Fine!" He drew a deep breath and roared: "I SMASH EGGS! ALL EGGS! GOODBYE, DELKIN. FOREVER!"

The Delkin’s face froze in shock, then smoothed into forced calm.  She doesn’t know where they are. She couldn’t... right?  Still uneasy, she pressed Mr. Un again.

"She couldn't possibly know where the eggs are."

Mr. Un laughed—this time for real. "Hah hahaha! Her tail gift lets her find such things. She touched you! You really should’ve left the kads alone, Delkin."

True fear gripped the Delkin. Every scheme, every plan she had spun collapsed in an instant. She had to protect the eggs. If they died, her species really would go extinct.

She hurled Mr. Un into the darkness and dove off the tree, racing toward the hidden volcano where her clutch incubated. That’s when Maizy—who had tucked herself under a nearby branch—slipped up behind and latched onto the Delkin’s back. It didn’t feel a thing.

Maizy used her tails to drain the magic from her extra-long ribbon, clawed a hole in the fabric, and exposed the strip of magic wood inside. She stabbed a claw into her skin and scrawled a symbol on the exposed wood in her own blood.

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Good, I made it before her, the Delkin thought, scanning the incubation chamber. The eggs looked unharmed, and she began to relax. Then the thought struck.  Oh! That clever kad! She tricked me! The tree frogs must be evacuating the last of the kads right now!

I need to head back! DAMN THAT BLACK KAD! I should've tried harder to catch and eat her!

Just as she turned around to head back to the tree, her head tumbled off her body and landed on the chamber floor.

"DING!"

Maizy then hopped off the Delkin's body and began tossing eggs.

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The kads were just coming back to their senses when someone shouted, "Something's coming! In the skies—toward the sunrise!" Heads turned. Eyes narrowed.

A breath later, another voice cried, "It's Maizy!"

Gasps rippled through the crowd as a dark shape plummeted from the heavens—then thudded into the courtyard with a sickening crunch. The Delkin’s head.

It rolled across the bark, bouncing once—twice—before smashing into the side of the Post Office. It came to rest beside a fallen kad still clutching a "GO MAIZY GO!" flag.

Maizy touched down behind it like a ghost. And then—her voice raw, new, and fierce—she hissed. Not in threat. In declaration. In defiance.

She turned, scanning.  Where—

There. Her mother.

Still pinned beneath the Delkin's severed hand.

Maizy flew.

She scrambled—crawled on top of her.

Her tiny hands searched desperately for movement, for warmth, for life.

Nothing.

Mom was cold.

Maizy froze.

The moment crashed down on her like a mountain. Her face twisted. Her body trembled. Tears poured from her eyes in a tidal wave of grief.

And from the pit of her soul, a sound rose—strangled, hoarse, aching.

She wailed.

Once.

Twice.

Again.

The sound echoed across the tree like a broken song—a keening too old and too deep for someone so young to carry.

Maizy had found her voice.