Through pain and strife,

She'll win her life.

- prophecy of the duskbringer

The World blanched white and sound vanished.

Guppy felt like she was moving through treacle as she tried to push Friedrich down to safety, her only guide his outline in the blinding light.

She tried to sweep his feet and shove him down at the same time, knowing conventional means would fail when attempting to move a dwarf.

She succeeded, which spoke volumes on how strong and fast she had gotten over the last three years.

Guppy felt a Shockwave hit the shield, which thankfully dispersed it.

However enough damage was dealt that the shield hit its threshold and crystallized, shattering and tinkling to the ground in front of her eyes.

'Fudge knuckles this is bad' Guppy thought, because every technomancer knew, after the boom comes the rip.

A second later it came.

Guppy was flung against the wall with a sickening crunch, then dangled there, pinned by a jagged piece of metal that had pierced her chest dangerously close to her heart.

She saw her shirt blossom red.

The pain had not hit her yet but she knew it would soon.

"FUUUDGEKNUUUCKLESSSS" she screamed.

There it was, trying to force her to black out.

Guppy drew in short ragged breaths.

Forcing herself to focus and keep her eyes open she looked for her master.

Unlike her Friedrich had rebounded off the wall and fallen back to the control panel, or what was left of it.

Guppy watched as he got up while shaking his head. A reddish blue glow around him spoke of a personal mana shield, probably the reason he was relatively unharmed by the ordeal.

Guppy looked back at where Arkkarssius had lain. The outer shell had well and truly been flung outwards by the explosion but the inner core had stayed put.

The adamantine core spun at a ridiculous blur while levitating in the air.

What was even stranger was that a fair amount of wreckage hung suspended in the air around the core.

Electric arcs jumped between the pieces of airborne debris, providing the lighting for the dim cavern.

And then it moved once more. Faster than Guppy could blink the core imploded.

A blacker than black circle appeared, no not a circle, a hole, a bottomless ravenous hole.

First the suspended debris flew back towards it and was devoured, seeming to curve as it entered the mouth.

Then scattered wreckage was dragged towards it before flying up and disappearing.

Guppy's sluggish brain put two and two together.

"MASTER FRIEDRICH RUN!!!" she yelled.

And Guppy watched, pinned to the wall like a bug on a display board, as her beloved Master was lifted off the ground.

His arms flailed as he discovered the danger too late. Trying to find purchase on something solid.

Friedrich's face a mix of panic and sorrow he yelled words that Guppy could not hear.

Then he too was gone, sucked in.

The mouth closed in on itself, the rip in reality healing.

Right as the void closed in on itself a sudden brilliant white flashed out.

A massive white dragon appeared amidst the wrecked testing facility, slamming into the far wall and carving a sizable chunk out of it before its momentum was arrested.

So large was the dragon that its bulk made the large chamber appear small and cramped.

'I'm in shock' thought Guppy,

'And surely hallucinating out of grief. Right now, despite knowing there's no way a dragon just got out of that...thing, I’m seeing a beautiful white dragon, it's a little different to the storybook illustrations but that's definitely a dragon… right?'

Guppy had always thought they were just creations of fantasy and myth, after all there had been no reported sightings of dragons for hundreds and hundreds of years.

They weren't supposed to exist anymore.

{YOU THINK AWFULLY RUDE THOUGHTS FOR SUCH A PUNY CREATURE}

An overpowering loud voice reverberated in Guppy’s head, causing her eyes to blur for a moment in shock and a very unique kind of pain.

'Yep, definitely hallucinating, I'm even hearing voices now' Guppy giggled a little hysterically before it hurt too much to continue.

Once she calmed and gazed upon the dragon again, Guppy realized it was not as perfectly white as it had initially appeared.

The creature was battered and bruised from head to toe, great rents were torn in its pearly white scales, the flesh beneath charred black and red.

One of the dragon’s wings was all but torn off while the other was tattered and limp.

On his right side the forelimb was shorn clean off, while the rear limb was bent at an angle that it was clearly not meant to bend.

Guppy tried to speak but it seemed her lungs weren't working anymore, all that came out of her mouth was blood.

'I probably don't look much better than the dragon' she thought.

{No, neither of us are cutting a very regal figure at the moment}

The voice in her head was quieter now, and she could feel it’s sorrow.

{But then, we are both of us dying}

The dragon was surprisingly forthright with his condition.

'I thought dragons were supposed to be prideful and arrogant' Guppy wondered.

{Yes. That may have once been true, but not after today, not anymore}

The dragon shifted around, leaning his head to get a better look at Guppy, a large circular golden eye peered closely at her comparatively diminutive form.

In doing so it flinched.

Guppy could see pain reflecting in its eye, she could not see its wounds break open, but she heard them do so.

A snarl escaped its maw, which, as it was now rather close to Guppy gave her not only a front row seat to the rows of incredibly sharp looking teeth, but also to the spittle that flew out and slapped solidly into her.

'Great' She giggled to herself,

'Now if I don't die of blood loss, infection from dragon germs will surely do me in.'

Guppy could feel herself getting lightheaded and cold. The giggling was also a bad idea.

She coughed up more blood from her lungs. Was the light fading? Things looked darker now.

The pearly dragon shook, it's movements bringing down more of the ceiling and scattering random debris around

{How can I die now, my duty unfulfilled}

{This cannot be the end for me, It is not our way to go quietly into the night}

The dragon mentally projected his impotent frustration and rage, the raw edge to the emotions brought Guppy back from the teetering edge, shocking her back to consciousness and letting her heart beat a little longer.

{My kind were made to rage and fight tooth and nail for life and love. I for one will not go gently as my foes desire. I refuse to let them have their way and conquer as they please}

The dragon’s simmering rage halted, a shadow of a memory of a thought flashing across his mind, after weighing and considering it he then addressed Guppy.

{What is your name hatchling?}

Feeling the sudden formality in the dragon's thoughts Guppy replied in kind, even though it was difficult she formed words in her sluggish mind.

'Gupalagia Esme Bright. But most call me Guppy'.

{My glorious name, given and earned, is Barthurthalomalew Dresnarian Kratomanger Harrowhew Objuslorow the fifth.} the dragon conveyed

Guppy's mouth cramped just thinking of trying to pronounce that name.

'I'll just call him Batty' she thought.

Batty's golden eye twitched a few times before he got ahold of himself.

{I have a proposition for you, neither of us seem to be willing to die here and now. There is.. a magic I can use that could save us both, but it has... consequences.}

Batty paused, his eyes looking almost bashful somehow.

{It would involve merging our souls. I examined your soul just now and it is compatible with mine, you have no elemental affinities to throw off our balance, only a pure chaos affinity that endlessly shifts and adapts. It will match mine perfectly}

He paused.

{However I will require your willing consent for this to work, the magic cannot be invoked if both parties have any resistance to it}

A moment passed as Guppy pondered Batty's offer.

She thought of her younger siblings, Stalia and Kyle, and of her promise to her mother all those years ago.

‘I too have a duty to fulfill’

'I am done with losing family members, even if that member is me'

'Do it. I Gupalagia Esme Bright give my willing consent'

{I Barthurthalomalew Dresnarian Kratomanger Harrowhew Objuslorow the fifth honor your consent and take you now as my soul's second half}

A huge magic array spun into existence, scrawling itself rapidly over the walls, floor, roof, and debris. Doing so with such an intensity that the symbols and runes etched themselves into the metal and stone, smoking as they did so.

Batty lowered his head to gently touch Guppys’.

She felt a warmth seep into her cold and nearly lifeless body.

The spear of twisted metal pinning her to the wall melted then vaporised, but she did not fall, Instead she was lifted by the golden magic as the process continued.

Guppy could feel sleep tugging at her but continued to fight it, trying with all her might to stay awake.

She stared at Batty, forcing herself to focus, and she saw it happen, starting from his tail he was slowly disappearing, flesh, scale and bone turning to golden mist.

she asked.

Then frowned, those words had felt different somehow, like...

Guppy’s thoughts disordered

{Yes hatchling, before I had to apply effort and could only read the surface thoughts you had of me, but now with our souls joining there is no need for that, we can freely communicate}

{As for my body disappearing... I need tremendous amounts of energy to fuel this particular magic. Far more than I currently have in this ravaged and depleted body}

{So I am burning my own body at the molecular level and converting it into raw primeval mana in order to provide the fuel}

Guppy felt a profound sense of loss at his words and raised her hands to either side of Batty's muzzle.

{Fret not hatchling, this body was already dying, it would not have lasted much longer in any case. I shall spin myself a new one in time. Until then I shall leave my soul with you.}

A few more minutes passed and Guppy felt like she was sinking into a warm fuzz, she struggled to keep awake, fighting the oncoming suction of sleep.

{Rest now, the process is almost done. Think of your nest, I will send us there.}

Now assured, Guppy finally relaxed, thinking of the safest and most desirable place she could be. Her bed.