The Scorpionman stabbed his clawed insect feet into the ground, leaving ten-foot-deep holes in the ground with each step he took toward Garden City. He was so big, he didn't take too many steps before he was looming over the city.

The cannons attached to the wall around the city, which hadn’t been used in over ten years, fired. The cannon balls exploded when they hit the Boss’s chest, only he didn’t seem fazed at all. The cannons weren’t meant for something like that gigantic monster, but they didn’t stop. There wasn’t much else they could do. The Mage guards stationed on the wall to protect against outside monsters attacked with their magic, but it was like a fly headbutting a door.

The Scorpionman swiped a huge pincer out and took out an entire section of wall in his way, taking the cannons and Hunters on it with the chunks of bricks. He lifted his head back and roared loudly. [GODDESS!]

Kesstel and I closed in silently and fast, sprinting over the city on mist blocks. Our steps were perfectly in sync, a smooth steady rhythm that calmed me even in this situation. If I’d been alone, I would have been more rattled. With Kesstel at my side, the only emotions I felt were burning revenge and a determination to protect my family. I just hoped they were okay. Even so, I didn’t want that thing to get inside Garden City.

As we reached the edge of the city, I lifted my right hand. A wall of mist rapidly grew behind us. As soon as it was a hundred feet tall, I thrust my hand out in front of me. The mist wall passed around us as fast as a blink and charged at the Scorpionman. Right before it reached him, the whole thing became solid. It rammed into the Scorpionman, pushing it back thirty feet and out of reach of the city.

Open shock flashed over the Boss’s ugly face.

Kesstel and I landed on a floating mist cloud at the edge of the city ninety feet in the air so that we were face to face with the Boss.

I glared at him and tipped my head back. “You don’t have to yell so loud. I’m right here.”

The Boss’s eyes flared and his gray lips curled in excitement. He looked ready to eat me. Then he noticed Kesstel standing beside me. He snarled, the pincers inside his mouth sliding out of the corners of his lips and snapping. A morbid thing to see happen to a mostly humanoid face. It was, without a doubt, the reaction of one predator to another.

My lips wrinkled in distaste at the sight. I pointed my kindjal at the Boss. “There’s already two Bosses on this planet. Three’s a crowd.”

“So die,” Kesstel finished and pointed his own sword, matching my movement.

The crimson sky high above us started to wrinkle. Suddenly, the heavens split open. On the other side of the jagged rip in the sky was a giant blue crystal planet looming in the void of space over us. A heavy pressure settled over everyone's shoulders, as if gravity had doubled in strength. The image vibrated slightly, as if it wasn’t quite solid, but it didn’t make the obvious threat any less menacing.

A horrified hush fell over the city. Even the screams from Garden City stopped and the sounds of fighting from Eden quieted, as if everyone was too scared to make a noise. As if the slightest whisper would drop the blue crystal planet onto Earth.

My chest tightened in fear, but I refused to let it take over. My eyes narrowed on the parasitic planet, finally seeing a place to channel all my wild emotions. Now that I had a target, a calm settled over me as my mind shifted to battle mode.

The Scorpionman’s face suddenly relaxed into a sneer, and it rumbled a growl. [Such arrogance for such an insignificant being.] His eyes began to glow, the same color of blue as the planet hanging over our heads.

I blinked, taken aback by the sudden change. Then I realized that the Scorpionman wasn’t talking to me. It was focused on Kesstel.

[I made you. Do you really think you will ever be free?]

My eyes widened. Oh my god, it was the parasitic planet that was talking to us through the Scorpionman. It could do that? Suddenly I remembered the Orc King Boss and how his eyes had glowed, too. Is that what was happening?

Kesstel glared at the Boss, his own eyes starting to glow bright blue. The same color as the monster he was staring down. “You created your own grim reaper. Congratulations.”

The Boss snorted with amusement then looked at me. Or in my direction. I could tell that he wasn’t really seeing me, but the aura around me. [You should have stayed where you were, Goddess. You changed nothing, just where you will die.]

A transparent slender hand wrapped around mine, holding the kindjal with me. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Goddess’s silvery hair floating around me and her white dress danced around my feet. Instantly, I knew that her image had overlapped mine, but she didn’t completely smother my appearance. We were just standing together, one human and one ghost, occupying the same space.

Kesstel’s hands tightened on his sword, but he didn’t react otherwise.

“I will not let you touch my family,” I grated out.

I will not let you touch my people, Goddess said at the same time, our words overlapping just like our bodies. For the first time since I came to Earth, I could hear her words with my ears, not just in my mind.

“You will pay for what you have done to Earth.”

You will pay for what you have done to my world.

“All the pain and suffering you have inflicted on us, I will give it back.”

All the pain and suffering you have done to me and mine, I will give it back.

“Prepare to die,” we said together. The crystal blade in our hands started to glow, as if confirming our promise.

The Scorpionman’s glowing eyes narrowed. Then he threw his head back and opened his mouth wide. Then pincers inside his mouth wiggled around as if laughing, but the sound that was coming from his throat was more like a growl. He looked back at me, obviously amused. [You said those words before, obnoxious pest,] he snarled, referring to when Vapria collapsed. [This time will be no different, only I won’t keep you alive after I crush you to pieces.]

The blue light disappeared from the Boss’s eyes. He roared loud enough that I felt it in my chest, this time with no words like a monster, and swung his huge hands at us — fast.

Goddess’s image vanished and she retreated back into me.

I Warped just as the claws reached me.

Kesstel jumped up, out of the way, and I lost sight of him.

The hand smashed into the mist block that we had been standing on. The tinge of pain flashed in my mind, but I refused to let the block disappear. The Boss gripped the box, as if confused about the sudden solid obstruction.

I landed on its arm and sprinted at full speed up the long length all the way to his shoulder while all four of my kindjals came out. The Boss turned his head, furious at how fast I was. Those disgusting mouth pincers snapped at me, so fast they looked like black blurs. I used my two floating kindjals to deal with the mouth things as I jumped at the Scorpionman’s face and slashed. He tilted his head to the side just in time. Instead of cutting his eyes, my blades left two long gashes along its cheek.

As soon as the black blood touched my glowing blade, Goddess gasped. This energy crystal! It’s connected to the parasitic planet! I could use it to make a Portal!

My eyes widened in shock. I was momentarily distracted and instinctively glanced down to where the Boss’s body changed from a man into a scorpion. There, in the middle of his stomach, was a faint glow indicating that was where the energy crystal was.

In that split second, the Boss grabbed at me. I twisted in the air, slipping away from the first hand, but couldn’t get out of the way fast enough to escape the second hand. Before he could squeeze me in his huge hand, larger than I was tall, I turned into mist. The clawed fingers filtered through the mist and clamped shut. I still took damage, but I wasn’t dead.

Quickly I slid through the wrinkles in his gray skin then condensed on top of the fist. All four of my kindjals stabbed down into his hand, two on top and one at the palm and back of the hand. I was aiming for the tendons and cords of blood vessels in the hand, but I didn’t do as much damage as I wanted before he flung his hand.

I gasped as I was suddenly airborne and rocketing toward the ground. I gained control of my fall and slowed the speed with Float. As my body turned weightless, I twisted around and landed on a mist block thirty feet from the ground, breathing heavily.

From this angle, I had a good vantage point of what Kesstel was doing to the Boss. While I had been attacking his face, Kesstel went after his scorpion body. I could tell that its exoskeleton was hard, but there were still cuts and holes along the huge body. Kesstel was constantly on the move, avoiding the clawed legs that jabbed at him. But the most concerning part was Scorpionman’s long tail, tipped with a ten-foot stinger that stabbed fast as lightning. Despite his speed, Kesstel was still pressed to stay out of the way. Every time it missed and stabbed into the ground, the dry dirt exploded as if it was a bomb and a pool of yellow liquid filled the hole. From the trails of smoke that wiggled up from the pools, and the strong acidic stench I could smell from here, it wasn’t hard to guess that the liquid was very dangerous. Kesstel was forced to be just as defensive as he was offensive — not something he did often.

As I watched, the curved stinger stabbed down at Kesstel. At the same time, I shot my two floating kindjals to where the stinger was heading. Kesstel dodged just before the stinger got him, then double jumped right over top of my kindjals as they flew like beams of light. The stinger stabbed into the ground, thrashing the small vegetation there, and an explosion of dirt sprayed in the air. The kindjals shot right into the middle of the dust cloud and stopped with a crack.

The Boss roared as its tail lifted up. Two glowing swords stuck out of the bulbous part of the stinger. Trails of yellow acid leaked from the holes the swords made and covered the swords. The glowing swords hissed as the acid clung to the metal, steam floating up. All at once, the Mirror deactivated because of the damage to the blades and the floating kindjals disappeared, leaving two leaking holes where they used to be.

Kesstel landed next to me, breathing just as heavily.

“I need that energy crystal,” I said and pointed to its location. “Goddess thinks she can use it to get to the parasite.”

Kesstel’s eyes widened before they narrowed in a challenge. “Gift wrapped or can I leave it bloody?”

He could talk like that in a situation like this? I snorted, watching the Boss focus on us again. “I’ll be happy with whatever you give me.”

“This is where you should act coy and ask for the stars,” Kesstel responded. He swung his sword and sent a tidal wave of magic at the Boss’s torso just as the Scorpionman reached for us with his hands and the huge pincers at the front of his body. Apparently, Kesstel really was determined to get that energy crystal.

To keep out of Kesstel’s way and distract the Boss, I went after the scorpion body.

*****