Another day passed without incident. That night, while Angel was on watch, a small cloud of sand in the distance caught his eye. It was approaching the camp at a steady speed and only the size of a few small sandships. He crept through the camp, waking the others silently.

Lilian tuned her collar to lower the volume before speaking. “Do you have any idea what it is?”

“None,” Angel said. “I’ve never seen a sandship travel in a giant cloud like that, though. They usually float over the sand or cut through it. What about you, Silver?”

“I don’t think it’s manmade,” Silver said. “It looks like a bunch of smaller clouds meshing together, probably from a pack of creatures. They’re moving pretty fast, though. Almost as fast as our artifacts. Maybe faster.”

Angel rolled his neck and popped out the kickstands on his arm. “Get ready to fight, then. I’ll try to pick some of them off before they get too close. Everyone else get ready to engage.”

Silver and Lilian drew their swords and took position at the front of the group while Angel lined up his shot. Alison didn’t have much to prepare, but she clenched her fists and took several steadying breaths.

Tilly pulled her gauntlets on, but she still looked half asleep. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any time to deal with that.

Light lit up the night as a bolt of lightning leapt from Angel’s palm and struck the center of the cloud. A loud screech rent the air, but he couldn’t even see what his spell had struck through the cloud. He cursed and rose, retracting the kickstands and the relic.

“Stay close together!” Angel ordered, pulling his scarf over his face as the cloud of sand grew closer. At the speed the monsters were moving, he’d need to be ready to fight a close ranged battle sooner rather than later. His arm whirred and a canister clicked into place.

He thrust his palm into the sand, summoning a thick spike of stone in front of himself. Then the cloud was upon them.

Particles bit at his eyes and lips painfully. Loud wind drowned out all other noise with its sharp screams. Flashes of claws and red eyes danced through the sand, and Angel was dimly aware of the clash of battle around him.

A jagged beak emerged from the sand. Angel brought his mechanical fist down, shattering it and sending the monster careening back. Something scored across his back and he spun, but the assailant had vanished back into the cloud.

Angel snarled. He pressed his back to the spike, squinting and trying to spot the next attacker. He didn’t dare use any magic for fear of hitting one of his friends instead of the monsters.

A clawed hand swung at him, digging into his chest before he could stop it. Angel spun with the strike to minimize the damage, then sent a vicious backhand into where he was pretty sure the monster’s head should have been. He was rewarded with a loud crack and a spray of blood and bone as the creature crumpled.

He dragged it closer to himself, hoisting its body and using it as a shield. The monster was birdlike, with large, sharp feathers and huge claws. Its beak was nearly as long as its body and full of rows upon rows of needlelike teeth.

Another monster leapt at him, appearing from within the sand. Angel raised his victim, letting it take the brunt of the attack. The attacker snarled, biting at his makeshift shield. Angel grabbed its upper beak, shattering dozens of teeth, and jerked it to the side.

The monster’s neck broke with a loud snap. Angel threw it to the side and spun, narrowly avoiding another beak as it pierced through the air where he’d been standing. Before he could hit it, a silver blur slipped out of the sands, cleaving the monster in two.

Silver’s form appeared in the sand for an instant as he danced past flashes of two more monsters, dicing them into pieces before the sand swallowed him again.

Just as quickly as it had started, the small sandstorm passed them and continued on. All that remained were dozens of bloodied corpses scattered across the ground around them. Angel’s eyes were watery and his vision blurred from all the sand, but he could still make out general forms. He did a quick headcount and let out a sigh of relief. There were six people standing. None of them had gotten kidnapped or killed.

Realization struck him and he spun, wiping the sand from his eyes as quickly as possible to figure out who the extra figure was. One of the birdlike creatures stood beside Tilly, its huge beak lowered and its eyes closed. Bands of blue light ran from her hands to the monster’s chest.

Silver started toward it, raising his sword.

“No!” Tilly exclaimed, jumping in front of the monster. “Don’t.”

“Why in the Barren not? You’ve immobilized it,” Silver said. “I should finish the thing off before it takes your head as a prize.”

“I didn’t immobilize it,” Tilly said, her face twisted in concentration. “I think I’m talking to it.”

“Your Star Fragment,” Angel muttered, letting his arm lower slightly. “They do different things for different people, but maybe they’ve got a general theme? Body’s let her control people. Does yours let you control monsters?”

“I don’t know if it’s control as much as strongly suggest,” Tilly said. Her lips pressed thin and she didn’t say anything for a few moments. Then the bird monster lowered its head, curling into a ball at her feet. “But I think Jake is on our side.”

“You named it?” Lilian asked, a smile pulling at one half of her lips. “And you went with Jake?”

“There’s nothing wrong with Jake,” Tilly said defensively. “And Jake will help us. Probably.”

“Reassuring,” Angel said. “Are you sure your control over it is permanent? Body’s magic only lasted as long as she concentrated, and it was very specific to her orders. If you could work around them, you could break it.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure,” Tilly said. “I just… know, I guess. I’m not commanding Jake. I was talking to him. He was hungry, and his pack smelled us. I promised him food in exchange to not fight, and he opted to join me since it’s hard to find food in the Barren.”

She raised her hand and the lines of blue light snapped, fading away. The monster remained curled at her feet.

“Fascinating,” Angel said. Flows of magic shot out of the dead birds and flooded into all of them. Angel repressed the rush of euphoria and remained focused on the situation. “Do you know if you can do that with other monsters?”

“I’m not sure,” Tilly said, grimacing. “It was really difficult to connect with Jake. I’ve got a horrible headache. If he was any smarter or stronger, I think I might have exploded. I think I can pick up on some of Jake’s thoughts now, though. There might be more than just a basic connection between us.”

“What an interesting power,” Alison said. “Congratulations, on activating your Star Fragment, Tilly!”

Silver harrumphed and sheathed his weapon. “If you don’t plan on ditching Dalliah after this, you better renegotiate your contract.”

Angel and Lilian echoed Alison’s sentiments.

“Thanks,” Tilly said with an embarrassed grin, but a pained grimace quickly replaced it. “Angel, will it always be like this?”

“Only when you use too much power,” Angel said. “Alison, could you donate a little energy to Tilly? It might help ease her pain a bit.”

Alison nodded and took one of Tilly’s hand. Sparkles of magic rose into the air around them and Tilly’s expression softened almost immediately. She let out a sigh of relief.

“Thanks. That helped a lot. There’s still some pain and I’m strangely sore, but it’s bearable now.”

“Then we should move immediately,” Angel said. “This place is covered in blood, and so are we. We’ll have monsters on us within minutes. Can your monster keep up with us?”

Tilly closed her eyes, then nodded. “He thinks he can move as fast as we can. I showed him my memories of using the artifacts.”

“That’s a pretty impressive link,” Angel said. “Let’s go, then.”

Jake stood, unfurling two huge wings while everyone else activated their artifacts. They set back off and the monster kept pace with them, alternating between a strange gallop and short bursts of flying.