After the first half-thousand heartbeats, Ajoke’s fear of whichever super-predator had been chosen for the task was replaced by an entirely different one.

It would be difficult to defeat something as strong as the orc from the last task in a fight, even with Fisher’s help. But it would be entirely impossible if she was unable to even find the monster in the first place.

They set a strong pace through the trees. Ajoke’s potency far outstripped Fisher’s, but the boy’s greater prioritisation of physical power left them more or less even.

He ran before her, his bulk and speed serving to bore through the dense thickets like a musket ball through meat. Ajoke gave him a lead of three paces, keeping an eye on his back as much as their surroundings for any hint of a sudden attack.

That was the pace they sustained for some time. Both running in near silence, with only one another’s grunts of exertion and the crackling and thudding of their great footfalls to give punctuation to the silence.

Ajoke found herself reaching that state of relaxation, mind seeming to drift from her body to observe her surroundings impassively, as though watching from above.

She was aware of the fallen branches she and Fisher broke with every other step. The shrubberies her friend shredded, the roots he sundered. She caught every scrap of movement around them, be it the canopy contorting statically in the wind, or the sluggish descent of those limbs her friend tore through- dropping so slowly that Ajoke overtook them before they were even halfway to the ground.

It was a curious thing, to see the world in the grip of magic. And with each passing year, she felt it grow more curious still. She became more powerful, and ever faster, but to her eyes it seemed everything else simply fell slower.

How long would it be until such ordinary things as falling branches and walking inepts were too slow for her magical eyes to even register their movement?

As they headed ever deeper into the gullet of the forest, each second free of danger coming as a gift rather than a due, Ajoke found herself wishing it had already happened.

Something rushed in front of Fisher, jarring him to a stop and eliciting a humiliatingly childish yelp from Ajoke. By the time her hands had leapt up, alight with magical flames, she’d recognised the sight of Astra Tempora and Xeno Warper for what it was.

It took her a near-fatal second longer to realise why they might be sprinting past so desperately.

Fisher, apparently having figured it out first, was already backing off when a streak of grey tore past. Ajoke thought it might ignore them, but it halted just as it came parallel to them. The sudden stop threw her eyes for a loop, and when they adjusted she felt her heart sink into her stomach.

The orc took barely an instant to stare at them. Tiny eyes seeming to inflate, as though stretched open by the sheer volume of hatred filling them, veins and tendons straining against thick skin as its hands curled into head-sized fists.

And then it was barrelling towards them, demolishing branches, shrubs, roots and saplings as it came.

“Get back!” Fisher cried, even as the monster shot forwards- running like it meant to race the very sound from its charge.

Ajoke didn’t get back, she simply froze with panic. How could something so big move so quickly? How could something so muscular be given magic to strengthen it further?

“NOW!” Came Fisher’s voice, hitting Ajoke like a fist and driving the petrifying fear from her.

She stumbled away from him, widening the gap as quickly as she could. That would be much faster if she turned around, sprinted instead of blindly stumbled. But the thought of turning her back to the rampaging monster made her sick.

The orc had been ten paces away when it saw them, by the time Ajoke took her second step it had closed in on Fisher. A scarred fist struck him like a battering ram, and he met it like a castle gate.

For a brief moment, the orc and her friend were connected. Their bodies pressed into one another, frozen amidst an inertial clash, like bulls straining as their horns were locked.

She was struck by the size difference. Fisher, who stood barely short of a doorframe. Whose shoulders were nearly as broad as most men’s thighs. Who made her feel like a little girl whenever they spoke, even when he deliberately stooped to make the size difference harder to notice.

Fisher, who was nearly a yard shorter and thinner than the rampaging grey abomination, lost the contest of strength.

His feet left the dirt floor, plucked as if his vascular bulk were nothing but a piece of straw snatched away by the wind.

The speed took Ajoke’s breath away, and the momentum was such that even the many vines and creepers that snagged him or the dozen wrist-thick branches that broke against him were barely enough to halt his flight.

He dropped to the ground a few feet to her left, and as the dirt caught him, she realised there was nothing between her and the monster that had so easily tossed him away.

It was faster to react than her, loping strides eating up yards of space by the time Ajoke’s arms were raised.

She willed magic into her palms, straining every facet of her being to propel the energy faster than she ever had before. The orc was a mere two fathoms away when the flames leapt from her outstretched arms.

Ajoke grit her teeth as she saw the orange conflagration hit the creature. Fire coiled around its body like crawling ants, hissing as it touched every scrap of flesh it could reach. The orc’s roar was audible even over the infernal sizzling, a cry of equal parts pain and fury.

The beast was visible only as a silhouette against the painfully bright glare of the magical inferno, yet Ajoke could clearly see it stumble to a stop, clearly shaken by the sudden attack. Its arms- each as wide as a tree trunk- waved madly in all directions, conjuring a mighty gale as they shook the very air.

It was as if the creature thought to shake the fire free.

Leaves within five yards of the burning monster sparked alight, the air heated as if by casting iron. And as the displaced air from the monster’s flailing reached them, the burning vegetation began to dance in the wind- contorting and pirouetting as if to a silent rhythm.

She grinned as the monster screamed, her stomach twisting at the sound of its agony, yet flipping with relief and exhilaration. And then, as its movements began to slow, the orc took a step forwards. Then another.

Ajoke’s heart sank as the creature continued making its way towards her, a great shadow at the heart of the flames. She couldn’t see its face, certainly not its eyes, but every nerve in her body screamed to warn her of the feral gaze resting on her.

The fire was clearly stopping the orc from moving quickly, even if it had stopped contorting with the shock- and it would surely have been the shock that first caused that, if it could still move now- a faceful of flames made every conscious movement a fight against one’s own instincts.

That didn’t help Ajoke though. She couldn’t move while releasing a stream of flame, not a constant, unbroken one as she was now. If she turned to sprint, she’d need to cut off her attack. Leave the orc unassailed for long moments before she could break into a sprint.

How fast would it be to begin running, once she did? Surely it would pause, delay for an instant in surprise at the sudden lapse. Give her time to get a few paces’ head start.

If it didn’t, she’d be caught before getting a dozen feet.

Another step, and now the orc was very close indeed. Close enough that Ajoke could feel her skin beginning to ache, her eyes beginning to dry, her sweat beginning to build.

Fire magic was volatile, and even the one who conjured it was not immune to its effects. At four yards, the orc was enveloped in enough of Ajoke’s flames that, were she an inept, her flesh would already be peeling and cracking from the convection.

At four yards, it was almost close enough to reach her with a single, sudden lunge. Which meant that she was out of time. She had to decide.

Reluctantly, Ajoke relaxed. She let her magic stop, let her reflexively tensing muscles go slack, and began turning about her heel. She saw the orc shoot forwards from the corner of her eye, and felt the cold grip of despair as she realised her choice had been the wrong one.

Something pushed her from the side, and the world tilted as Ajoke shot away. She hit the ground, rolled, and landed in a heap with her legs over her head. Scrambling up, her eyes flitted back to where she’d just been- certain they’d catch the orc moments before it caved her skull in.

Instead, she saw Fisher grappling with the creature.

The boy looked far worse for wear, a scarlet river ran down one side of his head from above his hairline and his heavy workman’s clothes had been mangled by the vegetation he’d shot through.

She was sure the same would happen, that any moment his grip on the orc would be pried open, his body cast aside like a doll. It wasn’t until Ajoke noticed the bulging veins and tightened jaws of both combatants, showing far more strain on the part of the monster than before, that she looked closer.

Fisher had hooked his right arm around the orc’s torso, the crook of his elbow closing about its neck and bringing his hand back to lock with his left. The monster’s own arm lay over Fisher’s shoulder, and as the boy pulled himself tight against it, the angle prevented it from either freeing its right, or reaching him with its left.

The orc, clearly too simple to understand human grappling techniques, began to swing him around. Fisher’s legs whipped out one way and then the other, smashing chips of bark from trees and bisecting creepers. The flashes Ajoke caught of his face revealed strain and fear, yet nothing even approaching surrender.

His words barely reached her, all disjointed and uneven as if the orc were shaking them just as violently as their speaker. All the same, she could make them out.

“Run.”

Ajoke swore, took one last look at her friend, and turned to sprint away into the forest. Her eyes pinched shut, she found herself desperately willing him to survive. The thoughts so loud and intense in her head that she felt sure they would impart some change on the world.

She didn’t see whether they did.

***

Astra watched the team Triland boy as he struggled with the orc. She couldn’t help but be impressed by the sheer toughness on display, yet it was quickly overshadowed by her terror at the orc’s strength.

The creature had given up trying to shake him off and had begun slamming him into trees, mimicking the strategy its late bretheren had used against Amelia.

She was shaken by the difference in effectiveness. Fisher was far larger than Amelia, his frame should have soaked damage for longer than hers could ever hope to. And yet each collision threatened to loosen his grip.

For a moment, there was a lapse in the orc’s movement. Whether by fatigue or simply dizziness, it halted its intrepid swinging for just an instant. And the boy snatched that instant like a striking viper.

He brought his legs around, planting both feet on the ground through what Astra could only guess was pure abdominal strength, and hooked his left ankle around the back of the orc’s right. Pulling on its right arm, he dragged the creature off-balance, painting a look of utter surprise across its bestial features as it struck the ground.

The surprise didn’t last long, and the boy didn’t wait for it to expire. His hand snaked to the crystal embedded in the beast’s skull, fingers outstretched like claws. Just as their tips closed around the gem, the monster bolted upright- breaking the boy’s hold.

As the orc began to stand, Astra fully expected the boy to flee. The orc must have, too, for it looked very surprised when his shin cracked against the back of its neck like a headsman’s axe.

Rocked by the blow, the orc faltered and didn’t move for a moment or two. The boy seemed to consider that a greater opening than the first, because he chose only that moment to run.

With his back turned to the brute, he had no way of knowing that his judgement had been wrong.

The orc was on its feet alarmingly fast, as though it had been coiled like a spring rather than slack like a rope. In only three great bounds it had caught up to the boy, who seemed to begin turning to meet its charge just before it reached him.

His turn came an instant too late, and fingers as thick as rolling pins curled around his head- rendering it no larger than a child’s by comparison.

The boy’s hands closed around the creature’s wrist, but before he could set any great effort to free himself, he was already being dragged through the air. Astra wanted to look away as he headed for a tree, but she couldn’t quite drag her eyes from the sight.

Wood and bark proved itself weaker than flesh and bone, and the pace-wide trunk snapped like a twig underfoot. The tree groaned as it began to lean about its injury, seeming to nurse the ruined sight as though it were the broken limb of some enormous beast.

It wasn’t, of course. The only enormous beast present was the one responsible for wounding it, and Astra realised with dawning horror that its grip on the boy was showing no more sign of loosening than the previous orc’s had with Amelia.

She stared as it hoisted the now limp contestant high over its head, scouring ground until its eyes fell upon something four paces before it

A boulder, perhaps half as large in all directions as a carriage and carpeted by generations of moss. With what looked terrifyingly like a grin, the orc began lumbering towards the stone, still holding the boy over its head.

He’d been hurt by an impact with wood, rock was harder. Astra knew that, even with his incredible toughness, the flailing boy wouldn’t survive being brought down upon something so durable.

Surely the organisers would transport him away. Any moment he’d disappear in a flash of light, leaving Astra feeling stupid for worrying. In fact, she ought to flee before that happened- lest she be too close when the orc began searching for a new enemy.

The monster began to lean back, intending to give itself as much space as possible to build momentum. And even as it began to bring its helpless victim down, Astra saw not even a ghost of the safeguarding glow she expected.

Her thoughts turned to Amelia, to the great beating she’d withstood without any such help, and almost without her noticing, she stepped out of cover and chanelled her magic.

The orc was just within range of her magic, and while Astra couldn’t create one large enough to envelop such a giant beast as that, she could just about manage a boy as large as the one it was swinging down.

It took only so much time as the blink of an eye before the crimson-rimmed circle had expanded enough, yet it was completed only narrowly.

The boy’s head disappeared through the gate, followed by his broad shoulders. By the time he had sunk up to the middle of his chest, the orc realised something was amiss. Its sausage-thick fingers shot apart as if they were curled around a hot iron, and the Triland boy disappeared fully through the gate.

Astra heard rustling, snapping and crunching ten yards behind her. The sound came as a relief, signifying that she’d succeeded in dumping the contestant where she intended.

Her relief died as the orc began staring around, eyes picking through undergrowth as its porcine nostrils dragged in great fistfuls of air in search of its missing prey. It took only moments for its body to stiffen, its head to turn and face Astra directly.

She was too scared to run, but her fear-frozen muscles served nonetheless. They moved into a familiar stance as the orc came, one foot forwards, both fists shielding her face, chin carefully tucked in.

When the orc greeted her with a hammerfist, its arm dropping like a hanged man, she moved quickly enough to shock herself.

The wind dragged behind the head-sized fist as it tore through the air inches to the side of Astra’s face, sending loose strands of her hair whipping around. She ignored the irritation and answered with a kick, her heel thudding into that sweet spot between hip and rib.

Pain lashed up her leg, biting into her very joints even as her foot rebounded from its target. Thick muscle proved more than a match for Astra’s strength, and before she could test herself again, the orc struck.

Its hand snaked out with all the speed of an arrow, gnarled fingers closing around her shoulder and foiling her attempt at dodging to one side. Before she could even begin working to free herself, it yanked its arm back.

Her feet left the ground, and the wind screamed into her face. For a single heartbeat Astra weighed nothing, and then the mass of the world was at her back- crushing her into a tree.

Wood cried out in pain, and the plant’s spine was broken. It began to topple just as she bounced free, and Astra hit the ground alongside the broken evergreen.

Reflexes drilled into her by countless hours of sparring seized control as her back struck the ground, and Astra rolled to a kneel almost instantly. Her lungs fought for every breath, emptied by the mighty blow, and tears clogged her eyes. She was brought to her feet by fear more than determination.

The orc had nearly come upon her by the time Astra stood, and she avoided another bone-shaking blow only by leaping back to the ground.

Twigs, leaves and loose dirt were ripped from the ground and cast into the air by the winds conjured by its strength. Leaving a swirling vortex of debris where Astra had been standing.

Her body was jarred as it crashed into the ground, and she mistimed her roll, forced to scramble desperately instead. The orc was faster, and its foot shot for her head with such speed, Astra was forced to pull both her arms from the ground to keep the blow from striking her head.

She flew once more, this time soaring upwards like a javelin. Branches sent stings of pain through her as they split against her neck, shoulders and back. A great tearing was clearly audible to her, and she fell amidst a rain of ruined fabric.

This time there was no chance to even begin crawling to her feet. A snarling mass of tusks and fangs appeared before her, grey skin pulled taut over spasming facial muscles, and a fist came down upon her face.

Stars danced before Astra’s eyes as her nose fell flat, and her lips, chin and neck became wet, hot and sticky. The taste of iron spilled into her mouth even as a fuzzy ache wracked her head, and her thoughts seemed to scatter as she reached for them.

What was she doing, again? And why did it hurt to breathe through her nostrils?

Something tightened around Astra’s throat, and as her head cleared, vision sharpened, she realised the orc had begun to strangle her.

The monster was crouched on top of her, massive body looking almost comical as it curled up atop her legs and pinned them to the ground. She tried to pull them free, aiming to push against the creature’s torso and break its grip, but beneath such mass and strength as the predator of Gol they refused to even budge.

Her heartbeat began to creep upwards, reaching Astra’s ears as if squeezed out of her chest, and panic seized her.

She dug fingers into the orc’s wrist, but its skin was so thick she could scarcely even feel the veins beneath it. Her torso rocked and shook as she tried to shake it free of her, but the monster’s bulk and grip were far too strong to so easily shift.

Darkness began to creep into her vision, dimming the edges and seeping further to the centre as though it were leaking from the outside. Her heart thundered louder than ever, and the taste of hot iron in her mouth seemed almost sickening.

She thrashed and fought, even tried to bring the orc’s hand closer to her face so that she might sink her teeth into its great fingers, yet nothing she did made any difference. Its mass was too great to shift, and without moving it- even slightly- to give herself leverage, Astra was forced to pit her strength directly against the monster’s.

There wasn’t even a struggle to be had in such a contest.

Her heartbeat intensified, the black expanded further, and she could feel the strength leaving her fingers like steam from a ruptured valve. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes at the realisation that, once again, she was helpless.

And then there was a flash of colour. Sapphire, Astra thought, visible for only a moment- streaking directly to the orc’s fortress-broad brow before shattering against the space between its eyes.

There was a ceramic crack, and blue chips fell upon Astra like dyed hail.

Her surprise was such that it took her a long second to realise the orc’s grip, so insurmountably strong just moments before, had slackened. Whether by surprise or injury, she didn’t care. Teeth gritting with effort, she pried apart the hands and sat bolt upright.

Legs still pinned under the orc, Astra put every scrap of strength in her upper body to shoving the great creature. It must still have been reeling, because miraculously her endeavour succeeded- the beast leaned back some, and by the time it straightened Astra had already dragged herself free.

Grey flesh rolled and fangs seemed to lengthen as the orc’s head straightened, eyes wide and filled with hate, lips pulled back to reveal jagged tusks in their entirety. Another blur of colour met it, and this time Astra could see the blue disk for what it was.

Xeno’s attack shattered against teeth like glass against steel, yet it served its purpose. As Astra took flight, she saw the monster’s hands going to its mouth, its body held in place by pain and shock.

The wind filled her ears as she sprinted, Xeno a dozen paces ahead. It wasn’t even three strides before the forest behind her exploded with movement.

***

Crow couldn’t help but lean forwards as he watched the orc take off after Xeno and Astra. It seemed every bit as fast as the first, shearing a foot from the distance between it and its prey with every stride, mouth hanging half-open as if in preparation to sink the exposed fangs into soft flesh.

Prey. Astra was prey. It seemed hard to believe, yet impossible to deny. His sister had failed to even hurt the monster, let alone kill it.

And I’m planning on going through tasks like this one after another.

Pulling his thoughts away from the depths of self-doubt, Crow redoubled his focus on the situation before him. Astra was outmatched, but that didn’t mean she’d lose. His sister would think of something.

Surely she’d think of something.

The space between Astra and the orc grew slimmer by the second, as did the distance separating her from Xeno. Crow felt his fingers unwillingly digging into the edge of his seat as he stared, silently willing a wind under his sister’s feet. No miraculous gale came, however Astra seemed content without one.

Just as the monster pounced, she dived forwards. A blue bead appeared in the air before her, expanding like a sinkhole until it was wider across than her shoulders. She disappeared through the gate, and Crow quickly found her shooting out through a second one he’d failed to notice appearing next to Xeno.

Blonde hair flew wild as she hit the ground, shakily rolling to an unsteady stand and stumbling back into a sprint.

He caught a grin on the corner of her mouth as her pursuer let out an enraged roar, now even further behind than before.

***

Astra resisted the urge to swear, diverting the necessary breath to her legs rather than waste it on her rage. The trick had been clever, and dangerous as the pit, but it had worked. She was, however, under no illusion that it would fail were she to try again.

The orc was closing in by the step, and Astra’s mind had been wrung free of clever ideas. The burning in her lungs grew stronger by the second, seeming to make the air sharp as she drew it in, and her eyes had begun to spawn tears where the fierce winds battered them.

In a few moments, the monster would catch her. She couldn’t stop that from happening, but she could ensure that their battle was on her own terms.

Stifling another curse, she dug her heels into the ground and began to kill her momentum. Earth gave way under her feet and she filled the air with grit and soil for a full fathom, digging out twin trenches as her body slowed.

The moment she fully stopped, Astra kicked off and charged at the orc. Surprise and confusion held its face still for her, letting her kick land perfectly on the monster’s chin.

Had it been her physical equal, such a blow would have knocked the consciousness free of it. The orc escaped with no more trouble than a few steps’ stumbling. Astra hadn’t expected to do any more, though, and she wasted no time before capitalising on the opening.

She lashed out with another kick, aiming for the side as she had before. Her toes sank barely an inch into the monster’s muscle, but this time she hopped back before her target could grab her.

For all its strength, and disproportionate speed, the orc was still a half-dozen times heavier than her. The difference in strength was not nearly so huge, and that meant that she could move much faster than the blundering savage.

Another clawed hand flailed for her, and Astra’s dodge was a narrow thing. Her retaliatory jab to the orc’s broad nostrils even more so.

The monster rushed forwards, and Astra failed to hold back her curse. Faced with a charging monster, she couldn’t hope to retreat quickly enough by simply backstepping. Her only chance to avoid its grasping fingers and slashing fangs would be to turn and run. Make herself a fleeing rabbit once more.

Before Astra could take her gambit, another blue streak came- this time whistling so close to her ear that she thought it might tear it free. The projectile splintered against grey skin, colouring it red as it tore a gash across the orc’s body.

It bought her a seconds’ reprieve, and that was just barely enough to dive aside. The blundering monster shot past her like a bull, and as its charge broke and its body turned, she was already standing primed to meet it.

Her legs lashed out, enraging, but not hurting, their target as though they were delivering fury in place of force.

The orc stepped closer, and Astra surprised the beast by doing likewise- only to pummel it with hands rather than feet. It began to step back as she struck once, twice, a hundred times. Flailing, clawed hands passing harmlessly over and around her as she weaved around its counters.

Astra’s blows affected it like bee stings, yet she’d seen men swarmed by entire hives before. Enough bee stings could hurt. Enough bee stings could kill.

Periodically, streaks of blue hurled through the air to break against the orc. None seemed to do much, but all served to distract it, aggravating the speed gap and letting Astra remain one hair ahead of those vicious nails.

Even so, it was all Astra could do to keep herself out of the monster’s grasp.

Its arms were longer than hers by half, its reach greater, and in spite of its size her edge in speed was no wider than the edge of a sword. Every slashing swipe of claws or hammer-like swing of a closed fist came near enough that she could hear the air parting before them, and staring into the orc’s twisted face- all scarred grey flesh and unevenly deposited teeth- was like looking death itself in the eye.

Fear, and not bravery, kept her moving. Terror and not determination kept her fighting.

A particularly wide swing almost caught Astra, the tips of its keratin knives dragging across a trailing flap of fabric from her tunic. The cloth was torn, the tug nearly dragged her off balance- dodging on a single leg as she was- and her instinctive recoil sent her heel crashing into something protruding from the flat ground beneath her feet.

Astra began to topple, and as the orc reared back an arm wider thicker than any of the branches around them, she realised there would not be time to regain her footing and dodge before the blow fell.

She closed her eyes as it ripped towards her.