Stillness does not last forever. Moments can be frozen in time, but just as important as the scene set by any given instant is the action that follows it. In this case, as time began anew, the stillness was broken by laughter. At first it was just Gen. He laughed in such a way that you could mistake him for having gone insane, a vigorous and undulating laugh that was ill-suited for his general demeanor. His laughter was joined by others, one by one by one, human voices that contributed to the cacophony with their own unique take on comedy. Everyone had their own voice, their own laugh, but no matter how confused or bewildered they seemed to be by their own humor, they had joined in Gen’s crazed glee. The Gorgon Bug was still there, silently swaying through the sky, so tranquil that you could almost forget that it was likely planning to eradicate them all. It looked like it was closer than it had been before, even more massive, and it was quite possible the creature was gently closing in on them.

The leader of the horned man looked between the two, spinning to gawk at the giggling army scattered through the burning underbrush and to look at the looming horror coming ever-closer. His troops, the many that remained at least, looked similarly confused and horrified. “What’s so funny?” He shouted, almost angrily. “Have you all gone mad?”

The laughter never faltered, but Gen could feel eyes fall on him in particular, as though asking ‘why precisely are we laughing?’ For a moment, he wasn’t certain, but then it hit him, and he would have choked if he cackled any harder. “It’s just that you came prepared for a backwater,” he said, gasping for air, “and now you’ve got it!” Horror dawned on the horned man’s face, and he whirled around to look back at the Gorgon Bug. It loomed, indeed drawing ever-closer to the clearing where they had fought their trivial little battle. They were all going to die, and for some reason, the crowd of humans seemed to find that even funnier. The cacophony went from an unfocused mass, a group exercise in ‘following the leader’ (namely the General) to something far more genuine, almost sharp. The setting sun couldn’t conceal the glint of need in their eyes, the desperate need for someone to guide them out of danger they had been cast into at no fault of their own. His thoughts wandered, inevitably settling on the simple concept of ‘improv’. He wasn’t quite sure if any amount of improv could save them from the bug that loomed over the horizon, but he’d have to try.

Just as quickly as the cacophony had begun, it stopped. A gentle song interrupted it, sung without words but with the most beautiful voice they had ever heard. It was a serenade of sorts, and once again, the mass of humans felt a sense of unity. They were all together, listening to the same song, feeling the same (magically imbued) effects. A sort of energy had formed from the past moments spent going insane with laughter, and it was channeled by the singing. The song was slow but strong, hitting a rhythm that seemed to hit the same beats as the giant insect swaying through the sky, like it had been transformed from a massive monster into a metronome, giving the time to the orchestra. The humans began to sway, and even the horned men standing in the clearing and the wreckage of the fort began to join in. Now, the unity was not the mad ravings or comedy of a single race, but something that began to transcend such petty lines. Normally, the Songstress might have run her reserves dry, but she seemed to draw ever deeper, casting out a powerful music of the like she had never sang before. The song’s rhythm never faltered, but the tone changed, slowly escalating from the calming effect Madeline had been trying to produce. It grew, and grew, and turned into an angry, operatic solo that fit more readily into a metal ballad than the relaxing jazz tones she had set out to spread. She hadn’t realized quite how angry the fact some stupid fucking bug showed up and botched their little plan had made her, how the fight had been coming to an end and yet it had arrived, almost certainly intent on casting them into bi-partisan bloodshed. Her budding fury reached a crescendo and she lost her energy almost immediately after, nearly tumbling to the jungle floor. The man beside her caught her arm, dragging her back and leaning her against the trunk.

That man was James, and he set out to harness the intensity that had been building. The swaying had become something like a frantic marching, with everyone as tense as they could manage and absolutely buzzing with simple rage targeted at a singular source- the huge snake-bug-monster on the horizon. He stepped forth, leaping into the air in a distinctly inadvisable way. He caught the attention of quite a few people- which was good. They faltered for a moment, and he leveraged their energy. They were suddenly all focused on him, and their enthusiasm seemed to feed his power. More people looked at him as he flew, as though he was magnetic and their heavy, furious eyes were metal. As he began to fall from his impromptu leap, Jim caught him- just as he willed- and the troops began to march. More and more people fell into his snare, and a great clamber rose. It wasn’t a sort physical noise, but a more spiritual one, a sound with inherently magical qualities. The clamber was the sound of several hundred hearts beating at once. It was the sound of several hundred eyes boring holes into James, of several hundred bodies turning their minds to stone, engraved with a single promise: ‘If it is the last thing I do, and it very well might be, I will see that monstrosity to its death’. James breathed the energy, felt it. His feet touched ground safely, nearly at the middle of the clearing, Jim descending carefully at his flank. Gen had at some point fell in step- he wasn’t quite sure when, himself- and the three of them stood staring up at the beast.

Gradually, more and more people entered the clearing, staring just as intensely at the oncoming threat. The horned men they had been fighting just moments prior were no exception, their panic and worries subsumed totally into grim determination. They growled, voices as one, and the Gorgon Bug seemed to quiver. While it couldn’t be said that the monster was scared, it certainly changed the relaxed, unconcerned crawling towards them it had been doing into a significantly fast, more deliberate gait. Its head dipped a little, lowering more of the seemingly endless array of creepy little legs it possessed to the ground. Gen had a lot of things he wanted to do and say, but he realized that they simply didn’t feel important. He noted passively that his mind was his mind and it was his own, but James’ influence had tampered with how his body took his thoughts into account. It was like going through a middle-man, where the corrupt bastard only passed on the letters with a message that fit his own needs. Which was frankly inconvenient, because James was being dramatic rather than practical. For instance, gathering them all in the clearing was a good way to get squished the moment the monster reached its full pace. With any luck, he figured, the creature wouldn’t be quite as fast as the little one they had fought before.

James was a casualty of rage. He didn’t feel much need to think or feel things other than absolute hatred for the bug that was charging towards them. It would be on them in any second, and he should probably have given more significant ‘orders’, but it was hard to think. He had a feeling that he and Madeline would need to have a “talk” once this was said and done about singing full blast while he was right next to her, but that feeling was quickly subsumed into fury, like most others. One that wasn’t was his magic, which still felt every bit as real as it always did. He could feel each twist and turn, each tendril of power that dug deep into the brains of all those unfortunate enough to be snared in his web. It had been so easy this time to take them all over, as focused as they were. Only one fly wriggled, trying to free itself, and he could feel their own mana playing tug-of-war with his control. He realized that it was Gen, standing right next to him, and in a lucky moment of clarity through the haze of emotion that ensnared him, he let the boy free.

Gen felt full faculties return to him. His emotions hadn’t changed, but the analytical bit of his brain that had been tweaked and pulled off of his body had come back. He pushed out wave after tiring wave of his own magic, hoping to disrupt the stranglehold James had. Not a moment too soon, the crowd started to react.

“Spread out!” He shouted, to which the army hurriedly scattered. Jim reacted immediately, his own mental strength more than strong enough to help escape James’ dominance. James himself, though, was immobile, still furious. Gen dragged him away, and not a moment too soon. The Gorgon Bug had finally reached the clearing, slamming its entire massive head and mane down like a hammer onto the ground they had been standing defiantly on. Gen scrambled, helping James- who had finally begun to stir- get towards cover. The Jungle had finally almost totally taken to the flames, and as the sun shrank out of sight, the flickering light seemed to grow brighter and brighter. The army ran through the fire in any which way, hoping to find somewhere not yet burning. The Gorgon Bug lifted itself off of the ground it just pounded its face into, tentacle mane lashing in every direction. Tiny flecks of dangerous ruby-red liquid flew off of the tendrils, encouraging Gen to haul ass towards the nearest not-yet-impassible thicket. James tapped his shoulders though, leaning against him.

“Madeline, passed out in a tree,” he said, still nearly delirious with fury. It was a small miracle that he had enough cohesive thought to remember the poor woman he had left behind.

Gen groaned. “Which way?” He spat, still running and pulling James along. James pointed- off to the side. They would need to take a serious detour, but it would have to be done. Gen didn’t plan on giving this bug any more casualties than he had to. The Gorgon Bug itself wasn’t happy, skittering along the ground and waving its head in any which direction. It seemed to have lost track of Gen and James, insectoid head passing not but inches over their own on at least a few occasions. The fastest runners had escaped the clearing, finding their positions, and the very first shot was fired. It hit the tough exoskeleton of the massive bug, which writhed to look at the direction from where the gunshot came. It coiled, swiping its massive head through the trees, uncomfortably close hitting the gunner and quite likely to have hit some stray humans or horned men. Gen tried not to look, both for his own sanity- rage swelled with each casualty, real or imagined- and to let him focus on the immediate objective, rescuing the Songstress. He and James ran, taking advantage of the creature’s distraction to sprint along noisily towards the bit of jungle James had pointed out.

Jim had not run for the Jungle and he had not escorted Gen and James. Jim was far too busy being a badass for that. He flew far above the creature, spear in hand, earning a bird’s eye view of the situation. He tried to ignore fact that the creature was a lot longer than they gave it credit for, instead focusing on finding an opportunity to strike. That opportunity was unfortunately when it swung its massive head through the jungle. He dove, at first at the creature’s soft-seeming mane of tentacles, and then at its harder-to-hit compound eyes when he realized that the tendrils were turning loads of things to crystalline sculptures, including unlucky people and even plants. The wind whistled in his ears as he and the spear he had borrowed from Gen’s armory shrieked downwards from the sky, practically cleaving it in two. The creature hardly had time to notice him before he struck, wrangling desperately about.

Timothy had run for the Jungle because he was no badass. He was a normal guy who had been dumped into the New Would which, unfortunately, tended to weed out normal guys. To compensate, he had sacrificed his morals and all of the fucks he could possibly give to stay with the General and his little city, in hopes that he’d grow to be something greater. In some ways, it had paid off. In many, it hadn’t. He missed being home, more than anything, and he missed it almost all of the time. At this moment, though, he didn’t miss home. It was counter-intuitive, really. The few times he enjoyed the New World were when he was against all odds. Fighting a Spinosaurus had been the highlight of his last ‘year’, and now this? More importantly, he had a perfect view. If he had a camera, he’d have taken a picture. The scene belonged on a billion album covers and in just as many history books.

He had run to the jungle on the opposite side of the clearing, lined up with what he’d consider the left side of the fort. That meant he got a great view of the terrifying swing the giant bug made at his compatriots, that he could see the bizarre petrification that anything hit by the creature’s tendrils underwent. More importantly, Timothy got a perfect view of the creature’s panic. An angel of death descended on it from above, a pale man in ornate robes diving spear-first for its face. He could see the moment that it realized it had fucked up. Bam. It didn’t have time to get entirely clear of the devastating blow, but he could tell that it had a good shot at moving itself out of the way. It began to move, preparing to evade...

Somewhere else entirely, a young man was taking aim. He was scared as hell, but unknowingly, unthinkingly, he had readied and aimed his carbine. He had burnt through almost all the ammo in the ‘big fight’, wasting all but one of his shots, but for some reason he just knew this was what it was meant for, that he had to take the shot. Nervous, he pulled the trigger, but the gun clicked, no dice. The Gorgon Bug was swinging out of the way, trying to escape the Cultivator's lethal spear strike. Timothy panicked, squeezing the trigger over and over, so certain that he had to take the shot. Click, click, click- fire! The bullet exploded from his gun, launching him backwards- Timothy had already thrown himself off-balance in his desperation, and he simply hadn't had time to care. From the ground he watched the bullet fly, unusual clarity, like slow-motion, watching the revolving bullet jet straight for the massive insect. The bullet hit its exoskeleton, and under almost any other circumstance it would have been totally ineffectual- he was devestated, his gut had lied to him, feelings deceived him- but this was not just any circumstance. In a near one-in-a-million, the bullet had hit its mark.

Jim had been worried. He had seen the creature move with insane speed, and mentally he prepared himself for the worst, for a heroic sacrifice in the counterattack. At the last moment, right before the bug cleared itself, one itty bitty little bullet dinked the creature, and it froze. He didn’t have a clue who shot the bullet, nor could he be aware of the fact that it had struck a subcutaneous nervous cluster, but nonetheless the momentary halt bought Jim the tenth of a second he needed to tag the insect. The spear began to bow as it met hard exoskeleton, but with a sickening crunch, it found its way through, driving rapidly through goopy flesh. Firmly embedding itself deeply into the side of the bug’s insectoid “face”, Jim held onto the spear tight, using the pole as leverage to stand. Feet firmly planed, Jim jumped, throwing himself away from the insect as hard as he could, a diagonal arc off into the trees. He could hear a cheer raise from below as he soared past, though he hardly had time to care- the hard part about gymnastics was always sticking the landing.

The Gorgon Bug thrashed, desperate to shake off or crush whatever had injured it. More gunshots pinged off of it, and it grew even more frantic, until finally, it stopped. It cocked its head back, lifting itself back into the air. The creature scanned the surroundings for threats. Quite a few humans had climbed trees, perched high to get a better shot- which exposed them more readily to its glare. The creature didn’t slam down this time, however. Considering the trees, it might have impaled itself, and it was already tired of getting impaled just from the spear alone. Instead, it leveled its head slowly and charged at full speed. The Gorgon Bug was slow at first, but it accelerated rapidly, individual legs skittering along fast enough it was hard to tell where they were at any given time.

The gunners were well aware of its approach, but they didn’t run. No amount of running would save them, after all. They had no more than seconds before the insectoid freight train barreled into them. They greeted the beast with a roar, staring down the oncoming threat, and the Gorgon Bug obliged. Trees crumpled under the massive creature’s weight. It charged through the fire, entirely unperturbed, and the unfortunate humans’ bodies were no different. Whether they were tossed through the air like a ragdoll, frozen by a swipe of the creatures’ tendrils, or crushed against the nearest tree, there were no survivors.

Gen could only watch as the creature charged. It was cutting a huge new hole in the jungle, bordered with disgustingly crystalline trees and corpses. The Gorgon Bug just charged and charged, dragging along the rest of its massive body. It never seemed to end, still trailing diagonally through the clearing to the site of its most recent massacre. The speed wasn’t as fast as the first Gorgon Bug they fought, but it was still impressive for anything that big to move swiftly at all. He had escorted James to Madeline, and with that out of the way, he was about ready to do some monster hunting. In some ways, it almost felt like a natural state of affairs. For a General, he did spend quite a bit of time fighting the things that go bump in the night.

He ran into the clearing, twisting at his hook. With some effort, it popped out. He grew nearer to the bug, whipping out a very particular dagger, and he sunk it into the prosthesis and twisted. It snapped into place. He pulled out a short-sword, in particular a sturdy one that Goblin caravaners had obtained from a distant civilization their little city hadn’t even encountered yet. Needless to say, anywhere that could handle basic alloying was high up on Gen’s ‘to do’ list.

He dragged the blade along the Gorgon Bug’s carapace. Holding it as an angle, his sword thudded and bumped along with every chink in its exoskeletal armor. Gen waited until he felt confident on the timing and shoved the sword into the creature as deeply as he could. Twisting it for good measure, he held onto the blade, pulling himself up and bouncing just high enough to sink the dagger on his arm into the same gap he had plunged the sword into. In an instant, he had gone from being on the ground to riding along on the bug, albeit while contorted in an uncomfortable position. He coasted along, scenery rapidly changing from deforested clearing to crystalline jungle.

Gen tried to lever his dagger, pushing hard to try to pry off the natural armor of the bug. If they could get any openings to attack, it’d dramatically increase the likelihood of survival, so he resigned himself to doing the dirty work. Sadly, the creature was sturdy, refusing to let go of its plate. He would have to peel it off, making his way around both ends of the plate, which wouldn’t be very likely. So, he just coasted along, waving to confused spectators as he passed by. The creature hadn’t gone in a straight line, and after a while, there was a bend. He shoved the dagger a little deeper the moment its ‘muscles’ started to flex, and the Gorgon Bug rumbled, undulating slightly as though to shake him off. He got its attention, at least.

Eventually, he glided back into the clearing, which was as expected. What wasn’t quite ‘as expected’ was that he immediately started gaining altitude. The bug twisted and heaved, pulling itself back into the air, perching for its next strike- with no consideration for the little person on its back. Gen desperately tried to pull himself free, but by the time he got his dagger-hand out of the tensing ‘muscles’, he was at least four stories in the air, which was at least four stories too high for his squeamish stomach. He free-fell, rushing to force himself into a recovery position, but to his surprise, the descent was gentle, almost like he was falling on air.

“Just like old times!” An entirely too delighted voice called from the ground. Kat stood in the clearing, waving her arms about like she was orchestrating the air. Gen laughed, relieved. “You didn’t have fancy magical powers back then.”

She giggled. “When are you going to use and abuse your own ‘fancy magical powers’?”

He groaned, still laying on the ground (uncomfortably close to a giant murderous insect). “Provided the Gomen haven’t run right the fuck off, I’ll give the signal as soon as I think we’ve got this thing immobile.”

A heavy roar sounded out in the distance. “Immobile, you say?” An all too familiar booming voice called. Gen had nearly forgotten them entirely- the horned men and their leader had gathered in a particular segment of the jungle, and as ragged as they looked, all of the ones with arm-cannon tattoos seemed ready to fire. They took aim, shiny-plated leader directing them carefully. Gen rolled to his feet, pulling Kat along with him, taking off for the Jungle. The Gorgon Bug noticed the vulnerable mass of humanoids too late, turning to face them just before they fired. Bolts of that dangerous, immaterial force soared through the air, spreading out like a volley of arrows. Quite a few went up towards its head, instead striking the dangerous tentacle mane it kept waving around. The Gorgon Bug roiled, shaking out the flame with the crystallizing acid it possessed. The other bolts struck a variety of places, but most especially concentrated around its seemingly endless legs. Quite a few of the legs popped off, socket spewing putrid yellow liquid for just a moment. The creature slammed angry at the impudent humanoids that wounded it, bouncing off of an array of newly formed bubble-shields. The horned men seemed to groan under the pressure, and when the Gorgon Bug reared back to try again, they scattered.

Gen quietly saluted their effort. If they could do that a couple more times, there might be a chance in hell of not just getting away, but killing the huge monster. He ran for the thicket, only to realize that the fire was getting too thick and dangerous to traverse. The only way ‘out’ was where the huge creature had snuffed out the flames, like the spot it just crashed down on. Gen ran, dragging Kat along, only to realize she was pulling him. “I’m not a one-trick pony,” she said, yanking him towards the nearest patch of flame. Suddenly, the nearby flames all snuffed at once, and Kat fell limp. Gen caught her, carefully lifting her onto the flat of his dagger arm and cradling her with his still-functional right hand.

Running through somewhere that just stopped burning wasn’t comfortable or safe, but it was manageable. The heat pervaded but the smoldering foliage didn’t catch, deprived of the impressive flames that had been keeping the burning afloat as fuel sources diminished. For the briefest of moments, Gen felt like he had fallen into an action movie, running desperately from a giant monster while carrying the girl and dodging flaming bits of jungle. He doubted any movie set would involve actual carnage, though.

The Gorgon Bug laid itself back down gingerly, and proceeded to roll over, trying to snuff out the little fires crawling up and down its exoskeleton from the dangerous volley. Gen could hear it before he saw it, the distant crash of trees, and then it began to sweep over. Suddenly it seemed like a pretty bad idea to head into the jungle this close to the monster- all of the other humans had good sense to spread out, it seemed. He turned and dodged, running desperately away, over and under brush and around trees. Finally, the hellish rolling stopped, creature evidently satisfied with whatever it had been trying to accomplish. Gen panted for breath, channeling mana desperately to his aching body. It didn’t hurt, naturally- he was well into ‘General’ mode by now for sure if he hadn’t been before, though honestly, he couldn’t tell the difference anymore. He could, however, feel his body weakening and preparing to fail, a passive acknowledgement of dangers that only rest could fix. Thankfully, if rest wasn’t an option, he still had mana to cover for it, at least for the time being.

He finally ran into a small group of humans. They were from the Rebel camp, naturally coalescing, hunkered down and watching for the oncoming bug, blissfully unaware of the fact it just cut a massive wedge into the jungle’s brink. They gawked at him, unsure how to react to their worst nightmare slash temporary boss charging at them through the thick. Gen grunted. “You four need to cover Kat here. She burnt her mana to buy me an easy out, but I’ve got to find my way back in.” Awkwardly, they saluted, and he disappeared back into the jungle, running back to where the bug had been.

The group was of three guys and one girl, all involved in the Rebellion. They were ‘gunners,’ still untrained as far as their magical capabilities went but valuable enough to bring along on the excursion. The youngest, a guy who may have barely been in his twenties, spoke up. “We should get moving. I’ll carry her,” he said, pointing to Kat’s limp body, “and we get closer to the clearing. That crash earlier sounded promising.”

The girl was a bit reluctant to get anywhere near the massive bug, but she nodded begrudgingly. The other guys fell in line when they saw her agree, hardly prepared to go off on their own. Their little fireteam crawled its way through the jungle, finally finding easy enough access to the clearing. They slowly traversed it, careful to avoid particularly hot patches. Finally, they were clear of the trees. The light was glowing dim, but the general ring of fire revealed the pitch-black bug and shapes moving upon it. The bug had returned to its cobra-like waiting posture, angrily swinging at the gnat buzzing around its head. Said gnat was Jim, flying about with a sword of his own. He jabbed at the creature’s head and ‘neck’, carefully avoiding the ever-dangerous mane of tendrils that snapped and slapped in his general direction, all while the man smiled gleefully.

They stood mesmerized, looking at the little man practically dueling the huge bug, up until the girl gasped. “Look!” She said, pointing far lower. While the creature was preoccupied by Jim, the Tyrant had found his way onto its body, desperately scraping at the joints under one of the exoskeletal plates on its back. Rather than smiling, the Tyrant was stoic, far more impassive than they had ever known him to be. They exchanged glances and unanimously pulled back. They had never seen what the powerhouses looked like when they went all out. Instead of standing aimlessly in the clearing, gawking at the fight, they found a safer place, kneeling and preparing to fire.

Gen yanked at the plate desperately, and finally, it seemed to give. At first it slid, grinding annoyingly against the other plate, but then he wrenched it off. The damn thing was heavy, and given its shape, it took a lot of pressure to shift it even a little bit, but with some effort, the gap was exposed. Gen dove backwards, and gunshots rang out. He hadn’t expected such an immediate reaction, but he supposed that was to be expected from the great and mighty army of the City of Man. Four shots from one direction, two from another, individual shots proving that not every human- or even most- had yet been crystalized or crushed. The Gorgon Bug lost focus on Jim, whipping itself about. Gen ran, getting clean of it as fast as he could- and not a moment too soon. The creature flailed, practically screaming in inaudible agony. It contorted dramatically, dragging more of its body into the clearing and coiling up, covering the newly-exposed plate. The creature was wounded. It had lost legs, nearly lost an eye, and taken gunshots to one of its segments, and it was pissed. It was a shame that insects couldn’t roar, or it would have returned the trivial humanoids’ fury twice over. In all of its nearly endless lifespan, it had never endured such disgrace.

To his surprise, James was waiting for him when he got to the Jungles’ frontier. The man smiled, seemingly unconcerned about the life or death battle around him, and finally coming down from the fit of rage Madeline had plunged him into. Gen could still feel the tendrils of his control creeping around, as loose as they were. It was likely his manipulation that had prevented the bulk of the human forces from fleeing, stricken with terror, and kept them so singularly focused on victory. “You know, I’ve played a lot of games,” he began.

“What?” Gen asked, almost offended. Why was he talking about games?

“and those games have boss fights.” He said, pausing for emphasis.

Gen scrambled to remember what few games he had played when he’d still go over to friends’ houses, or the little ones he had when he was young. It was a struggle, but he finally got an inkling of what James was getting at. “You can’t be serious,” he spluttered, “don’t even jinx it!”

“Yup. Every good boss has a second phase. Maybe even a third.” James pointed into the distance, back in the direction he had just run from.

Gen turned around.