EPISODE XIII

Purpose, Part 2

The Strider trundled over the grassy plains, creating an immense crater of death and destruction with every step. Not only from its weight, but also the unnatural concoction of biological and artificial fluids that seeped through the scratches in its soles. What could survive being crushed was burned away by chemical desolation.

Despite this, the Strider was a bustle of activity. Flying machines continually flowed in and out of the upper city. In this day and age, there were no rickety stairs and pulley systems going up the legs, but instead there were fully functional elevators that descended telescopically from the creature’s bulk to pick up those on the ground.

The Strider never stopped moving. When observed from afar, it appeared slow and lumbering, and many could be forgiven for thinking it was possible to catch up to the beast on foot. The fact of the matter was the Strider’s actual speed was somewhat alarming, and one would need a speedy land vehicle to keep up with it; which was exactly what Amaris and company had.

The Retrograde sped along the grasslands at about double the Strider’s speed, quickly approaching the area doused in its shadow. Grass clippings were ejected out the back as the vehicle roared forward. A couple of sofas had been welded to the sides of the car, where the excess passengers sat, bundled up with an excess of rope, belts, and duct tape. It wasn’t the most comfortable ride, and it was impossible to talk comfortably over the roaring winds, but at least everyone could have a seat. The arrangement had prevented them from taking any terrain that was too difficult, since not everyone was inside and protected, but they had still managed to arrive at their destination.

They were not alone, however. Dozens if not hundreds of other land vehicles were also pursuing the Strider, most of which had bundles of goods for trade piled on top of them. Up ahead, the telescoping elevators grabbed onto the various vehicles with a claw and brought them all the way up to the Strider city.

Amaris sat in the front of the cockpit, Irene and Jenny behind her. She held Pitch to her chest, forcing herself to breathe slowly.

“Hey, Amaris?” Jenny tapped her on the shoulder. “You’re stressing out worse than Irene over there.”

“I… am… f-fine…” Irene stammered, sitting with her legs crossed and her hands pressed together, trying to meditate. Unsuccessfully.

“I just… I’m having second thoughts.” Amaris looked out the cockpit at one of the Strider’s disgusting legs, where a massive hydraulic press moved alongside a rippling rope of green bile to tense a muscle largely composed of weaved crystalline fibers. “I’m cursed. I…”

“Ugh, not again, we’ve been through this.” Jenny grabbed Amaris’ shoulder and shook it. “We. Know. You’re. Cursed. And. Accept. The. Risk. Get that into that thick skull of yours. I know this could go badly, everyone in this car knows this could go badly.”

“Amaris…” Irene opened her eyes, coming out of her unfruitful meditation. “We’re charging into a mobile war fortress. I’m pretty sure your curse doesn’t increase our chance of death any further.”

“See? Terror-feather has a point.”

“Terror-feather…?” Irene tilted her head, rustling the feathers of her hat against the side of the cockpit.

Jenny ignored her. “See, this is already very interesting, what we’re doing. What’s your curse going to do? Make it more interesting than it already is? Think about how ridiculously stupid we’re being. Heck, your curse might even help us win! We’re a bunch of plucky underdog misfits taking on… whatever the heck this thing even is. Wouldn’t it be interesting if we were the ones who managed to take it down?”

Amaris blinked a few times. “I have no idea.”

“So let’s forget about the curse and just focus on our mission. This thing needs to stop moving! Let’s take it out!”

“Yeah!” Amaris was expecting others to cheer with her, but the only other person in the cockpit was Irene and she didn’t do excited cheering when stressed. Which was almost always.

And yet she’s still here. And has a pretty major part in the plan, too.

Orville appeared to Amaris, face phasing through the cockpit. “Once they start pulling you up, I won’t be able to watch you anymore. I’ll keep trying to get in, just in case you turn off whatever’s blocking me, but... I won’t be able to do anything otherwise.”

“You’ve done more than enough, Orville,” Amaris said. “Take a break, we’ll do it from here.”

“Hey, one of the elevator-claw things is down,” Jenny said, pointing to an empty claw that was hovering just above the ground as the Strider moved. “Let’s catch a ride.”

Amaris tapped a few buttons, ordering the Retrograde to place itself under the claw in such a way that the people on the couches wouldn’t be grabbed directly. It was a good thing she wasn’t actually driving—all of this had been pre-programmed long before they had gotten near the Strider by Suuk. State-of-the-art computer navigation systems sure were helpful sometimes.

The claw reacted to their presence immediately and clamped down around them. Unlike the Strider itself, the telescoping claw was made of pure metal, and thus had no danger of dripping acid on anyone. With a loud whirring noise, the claw retracted, dragging the Retrograde up along with it.

“Here goes…” Amaris said, glancing back at Irene. “You’re up.”

“I know, I know, I know…” Irene closed her eyes and held her hands out. “Let me know when we’re close enough.”

Amaris turned her gaze upward to the underside of the Strider. They were being picked up somewhere near the edge, but still within the beast’s shadow. They were nowhere near the maw, which was at least a dozen circles of hundreds of jagged teeth, each the size of a house. Amaris wondered what the teeth were even used for—from what Orville told her, the tentacles coiled up behind the teeth were all it needed to do its horrendous deed.

The claw was lifting them up into the beast’s flesh itself—though it was hard to tell where the beast’s body stopped and the artificial city began; if there was even a distinction between the two. The hole they approached was half fleshy, a third crystalline, and the rest was made out of some kind of black tar that dripped upward without shrinking in volume.

“Now,” Amaris said.

And then everything was fine. They were being lifted into the inner workings of a war machine with the very risky mission to halt its progress. Any sane person would think this was a suicide mission. And, if Amaris was honest with herself, she often thought it was. But why was that a problem? It was just as fine as everything else that had happened on her journey.

Why had she been so worried in the first place?

At this point, she noted that Irene’s ability was in effect and none of these feelings were real, but that wasn’t a problem either. In fact, it meant the plan was going well! People were often very suggestible when first influenced by Irene’s abilities, and it would keep everyone but Irene from looking nervous. And Irene?

Amaris glanced back at Irene who looked like she was about to squeeze her eyes out of her skull by trying to open them so wide.

She’ll be fine, Amaris thought, chuckling to herself.

The Retrograde was eventually lifted all the way into the Strider, arriving in a docking area. Dozens of other land-based vehicles were kept here, though many were abandoned and rusting. The ground was made of marbled metal kept clean enough to walk on, but the rest of the walls and the ceiling had no such organization. Some were technological, some biological, and others seemed to be neither but nonetheless pulsed like a heart while letting out bursts of electricity. Various nodules all over the walls glowed different colors, lighting the interior with a bizarre rainbow of conflicting visions.

They were set down in an empty slot next to red speedster hovercraft and a vehicle that looked more like a centipede than a car. Two people came up to them as they unloaded from the Retrograde: the first was a human woman and the other was a blue octopus creature that felt gravity backward so it walked by holding magnets that affixed it to the metallic ground.

Given the dumb grin on the woman’s face, the plan was working smoothly.

“I have never felt so great in my life!” Suuk said, taking a moment to stretch as she unlatched herself from the couch.

“So much life in these walls…” Coleus marveled, staring at a section that looked like it was bleeding puss mixed with half-eaten spiders.

Irene stepped down the Retrograde’s ramp, Amaris and Jenny following behind her. “H-hello there!” she waved at the woman and the octopus.

“Oh, aren’t you all the cutest little things!” the woman said, leaning down to be eye-level with Coleus. “Especially you, I’ve never seen anything like you before! Best day ever, am I right?”

“Heck yeah!” Suuk said, taking a moment to play a soundless ditty on an air guitar.

“Quite,” the octopus said with a bubbly noise. “So, uh, purpose of visit to the Strider?”

“T-tourism!” Irene stammered. She saluted the octopus, realized he wasn’t a member of any sort of military, and subsequently tried to pull it off as combing her fingers through her hair. “The girls have always wanted to see the great Strider, y’know? Wonder of the world and all th-that!”

“More outsiders should be like you!” the woman declared. “I hear all sorts of dumb excuses like ‘this place isn’t for children’ and ‘I’m only here to find remnants of the family you slaughtered.’ But, like, come on, that’s ignoring everything about our great Strider!” She got a sparkle in her eyes. “Oh, yes, this is the start of a beautiful future!”

“Huh, I don’t have ‘tourism’ as an acceptable reason on the paperwork,” the octopus said, flipping through the pages on the clipboard. “Guess we have to mince them.”

“D-do you really want to put an end to such a... lucrative income opportunity?” Irene asked.

“Shame on you!” the woman laughed, slapping the octopus—who naturally didn’t mind at the moment. “Mince such a nice little group? Psh! Put them down as personal guests and I’ll talk to the management tomorrow about opening up a tourism board. I’m sure the casinos will love it!”

“Sounds like a plan!” The octopus scribbled down several things. “Oh, I need your names.”

“I’m Irene,” Irene said. “And this is Coleus, Jenny, Suuk, and Amy,” she glanced knowingly to Amaris. “And this is our pet, Boro.”

“Arf,” Boro said, in the worst impression of a dog ever.

“Oh!” Irene gestured at the Retrograde, her finger visibly shaking as she did so. “I-I might have some things in there I want to sell later.”

The woman slapped herself in the forehead. “Why didn’t we think of that! We could have put them down as prospecting merchants!”

“Why not both?” the octopus asked.

“Why not indeed!” the woman clasped Irene’s hand and shook it vigorously. “Yes, yes, of course, you can always come back and get your things. Strider City always accepts business! For business is the great machine that drives us forward!”

“Besides the Strider, of course.”

“Naturally, but that goes without saying.”

“Soooo…” Irene tapped her fingers together. “Uh, where do we go first?”

The woman pointed to a large staircase leading out of the parking lot chamber. “The city center is up there. It’s a bit of a confusing mess but I’m sure you’ll find your way around!”

“Th-thank you.” Irene all but ran away from the woman and the octopus, dragging the girls and Boro behind her. She jumped the stairs two at a time until they were out of sight. In the faint light of the stairway, she released her power’s hold on the girls and Boro. “Okay, we-we-we’re in.”

Coleus immediately whimpered. “This… this is so much worse than anything I’ve ever seen before. I… the life here is reversed. I…” She reached out a hand to the wall, prompting a few leaves to grow out of it that rapidly mutated into razor-sharp teeth that gnashed at them before falling off to the ground and disintegrating into blue sludge. “That…”

“Is horrifying,” Suuk said. “We’re inside a carved-out half-living carcass.” She took in a deep breath, prompting her hair to stand on end. “Geh…”

Amaris noticed it too. Under the influence of Irene’s happiness, there had been no reason to really feel where they were, but now that they were free, it was… decidedly unpleasant. The scent of rot was everywhere, intermixed with the sharp feel of ozone and the grimy smell of oil. She also sensed a faint amount of coconut, for some reason. Then there was the humidity—already droplets of water were starting to form on Amaris, and it wasn’t her sweat.

As they climbed further up the stairs, they could feel the Strider shuddering with every step. This far above the ground each step didn’t cause a minor earthquake, but the thudding was ever-present.

Thud… Thud… Thud…

The floor was always level, though, so they were in no danger of slipping and falling, a fact they were thankful for as they climbed the stairs… and emerged in one of the city’s many open expanses.

Amaris thought it looked more like the inside of a kidney than a city. Folds of the disgusting walls rippled in and out before tapering to a ceiling, giving the space an overall bean-shaped feel. Each fold in the wall held buildings, roads, wires, floating rocks… everything Amaris could imagine was in here somewhere, haphazardly thrown in among the sickly, unnatural innards of the Strider. There were holographic advertisements, traditional billboards, posters, and even a guy running around with a bell shouting things for the people to know. It was like every era of history was living in the same place without even attempting to work together to create something new. Everything had to be distinctive and unique in a messy slurry.

The content of the advertisements, though, was deeply concerning. Half of them were relating to the upcoming Destruction Festival. “The Strider is on its way to Burffet! A smaller city that can offer no resistance! They have begun evacuations, but we all know those never get done in time!” This announcement was interrupted by a holographic image of a child sitting in a turret, shooting at a building. “Purchase time in the turrets for your family today! The best gift money can buy: an opportunity to assist the Strider in its conquest!”

Jenny grimaced. “Aight, that’s messed up enough to roll my stomach.”

“Let’s still pretend like we like this place,” Amaris said. “At least superficially. Now… how are we going to find a library?”

“Watch and learn,” Suuk said, smirking. She pulled out some gold coins from her pouch and lifted them up. “Who wants to help us find a library?”

A dozen people—only half of which were human—immediately rushed to her, at which point she drew two curved daggers, one in her tail and one in her hand that didn’t have the money. “No mugging today, only instructions.”

A black garilend approached, adjusting his monocle. “You will find it by taking the floating frog bubbles up the purple ventricle. Look for the large book with glowing red letters, the library is under it.”

Suuk tossed the money into his face, sending it everywhere. This prompted everyone who had rushed Suuk to start scrambling on the ground for the money, triggering a brawl over the coins.

Suuk gestured with her tail that they should leave. Irene ran after her the fastest, the other girls and Boro trailing behind.

“I wanted to fight…” Boro grumbled.

Jenny elbowed him. “You are a pet, Boro.”

“Arf.”

“That’s better.”

“I have no idea how to find the floating frog bubbles,” Suuk declared. “I only know he was looking this direction, so they have to be here somewhere.”

Coleus pointed at a green platform creating frog-shaped bubbles filled with a faint yellow gas.

Suuk tapped the tip of her dagger to her lips. “Good eye.”

The group walked to the platform, watching as a giraffe-centaur approached the bubbles, setting a colored dial to orange before hopping in—and promptly entering a coughing fit as the gasses entered his nostrils. But he remained in the bubble as it floated through one of the many holes in the wall.

“What kind of transportation does that?” Jenny asked. “They have zip lines and elevators, why not just install one of those here?”

“I don’t think this place is concerned with comfort…” Amaris said, shaking her head. “Try to hold your breath, everyone! Especially you, Coleus.”

“Arf?” Boro asked.

“You don’t breathe so you’re probably fine.” Amaris twisted the dial to purple and jumped into the frog-shaped bubble. She held her breath for all of two seconds before she realized the gas was seeping through her skin somehow and making her brain burn. Why this sensation made her cough, she had no idea, but the convulsions of her diaphragm only increased the longer the gas was seeping into her skull. She lost all awareness of time and position in the bubble, barely even aware she was floating upward.

Then, all at once, the bubble popped and she was dumped onto a landing platform covered in what she was trying hard to convince herself weren’t layers of dried vomit. She stood up, took a few steps to the side, removed a cloth from her backpack, and started cleaning herself off. Pitch slithered out of the pack and glared at Amaris.

“I know, I know, it sucked…” Amaris caught Suuk as she came out of the bubble, holding her up so she didn’t fall onto the disgusting ground. “But it is what it is.”

“What…?” Suuk rubbed her eyes. “What?”

“Can you say anything other than what?”

“…My head is swimming and I really want fish for some reason.”

Jenny’s bubble came next, but even though she was coughing she retained full awareness and was able to do a quick flip as the bubble popped and perform a superhero landing next to the other two. “Easy.”

Irene was a mess, but the others were able to catch her.

Coleus wasn’t breathing when she came up. The bubble popped and deposited a motionless dryad into Amaris’ arms.

“Coleus!” Amaris shouted, shaking her. “Coleus, it’s just some gas…” Who knows, maybe it’s deadly toxic to Dryads! “Jenny, do something!”

“I don’t know healing punch!” Jenny stammered. “She’s the one who knew that!’

“I…”

Coleus’ eyes flew open. Her normally massive pupils had shrunk to the levels one might expect in a normal human.

“C-coleus?”

“There is a Glen here. I felt it. It felt me.”

Suuk raised an eyebrow. “A glen? In this… beast?”

“It’s not right, but I felt it… it communed with me.” Coleus shook her head. “I… I had to reject it.” She tried to stand up, but stumbled forward, forcing Irene to catch her. “Something’s deeply wrong with this place.”

“No, really,” Jenny deadpanned. Amaris smacked her for being insensitive.

Coleus pushed Irene back, finally able to stand on her own. Her pupils slowly returned to normal as she bathed herself in her healing magics. “Okay… I’m okay. Let’s find that library.”

At this point, Boro climbed out of the hole without so much as a bubble. “Dumb thing kept popping, apparently doesn’t like spiders. Mmmf.” He glared at them all. “Oh, yes, right. Arf. Arf arf arf. Arf? Arf.”

Coleus couldn’t help but giggle. “Someone’s got a bone to pick with the transportation system!”

Suuk facepalmed. “Every time she speaks, a little bit of me dies.”

“Then I’ll bring it back with a wave of my finger!” Coleus said, tapping Suuk on the nose with a useless healing aura.

Amaris pointed. “Found it!” Sure enough, only a few uneven roads away, there was a large book with glowing red runes in its pages floating above what was presumably a library. The fact that the book was whispering sentences in a language Amaris didn’t understand was only mildly concerning.

“Huh.” Jenny scratched her head. “I don’t think I’ve heard that language before.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t drive us mad,” Amaris said.

Irene let out a laugh that ended in a whimper. “We’re already mad…”

Amaris couldn’t bring herself to disagree with the sentiment.

~~~

Jenny opened a book and it cast fireball into her face. She groaned. “Nice…”

“Jenny!” Suuk called from the table everyone else was sitting at. “We told you to be careful, half the books in here are cursed!”

“What else am I supposed to do while you lot are researching?”

Suuk held up one of the historical books they were reviewing and raised an eyebrow.

“Let her be, Suuk,” Amaris said, closing the book she was looking at. “She’ll do her own thing. Though, Jenny, I would prefer if you weren’t launched into the outer darkness because you opened a book without thinking.”

With a cross look, Jenny nonetheless relented and sat down next to the others. She refused to open any of the books.

The interior of the library was a welcome respite from the chaotic monstrosities outside—if the interior of a lumbering beast could be considered “outside.” Books were arranged somewhat haphazardly on shelves made out of misshapen wood. The shelves themselves pointed every which way, adding to the chaos, but at least the walls were simple brick and not pulsating.

It had taken quite some time to find the books that they needed that weren’t cursed, but there was almost no one else in the library so there wasn’t that much of a rush. Between Jenny, Boro, and Coleus, they were able to detect which books were cursed ahead of time and avoid them, restricting themselves to the purely informational tomes.

“I think… we’ve got enough,” Amaris said, laying a book open for everyone to look at. “I’ve read this same history in multiple places, so it’s probably more-or-less accurate. The origin of the Strider is shrouded in legend, but it’s been trampling across the world for longer than most cities have existed, seeking settlements to devour them. Strangely, even in the ancient depictions, it still seems to have mechanical bits.” She pointed at a sketch of the Strider without a city on top of it, its legs still containing hydraulics and gears.

“Could just be artistic license,” Suuk pointed out.

“Maybe, but I haven’t seen a single drawing of it any other way.” She flipped the page. “Regardless, as time went on, those whose cities were destroyed tried to conquer the beast, but all of them failed. Some that survived started to worship and revere the Strider, even going so far as to go to cities in its path and convince them the Strider was a bringer of joy and gifts, a practice that has continued to this day. And as these Strider-worshippers increased in number, some started to climb the beast itself, eventually reaching the top where they found they could access the Strider’s interior and many of the things it consumed. And, well, they started building a city, and that’s how Strider city came to be. These days there’s no leader, just a bunch of gangs with a lot of unspoken codes, but they are all rather devoted to the Strider’s mission of destruction.”

She closed that book and ruffled around for a different one while the others processed the origin of the city.

“They sold their souls…” Irene muttered.

“How could they?” Coleus wondered. “How could they serve a being that destroyed their home?”

Irene gripped her wrist nervously. “Y-yeah…”

Amaris slammed the next book on the table. “Coleus found this one; diagrams and research on the Strider itself. Unlike the history, this is a lot more disorganized. But we can figure something out from here. Strider City has two sections: the Inner City, where we are now, and the Upper City, which is what you can see from outside. The Upper City is of no concern to us whatsoever since it’s not part of the original Strider. The Inner City, however, had to be constructed—and in the process, the builders learned a lot about how the Strider works.” She flipped a page over to a diagram of what qualified as the Strider’s muscles. “Each leg has a large central tendon that’s constantly repaired and replaced by the Strider’s abilities. However, these tendons do all go through a singular point.” She pointed at an area in the center of the Strider’s head. “Motor control.”

“So we charge in and blow it up,” Jenny said, flexing her wrist. “Tah-dah! No more walking for the Strider.”

“They could eventually repair it,” Suuk pointed out. “Or the Strider could regenerate with time. Taking that out is not enough.”

“But it will leave the Strider vulnerable,” Amaris said. “All we have to do is transmit a message to some city that has a vendetta against the Strider. It won’t be hard to find one, but we should only send the message once we have taken out Motor Control.” She unfolded a massive atlas stored within one of the books they’d found. When she opened it, she paused, staring at the lands to the north.

The country of Yeshalo, with the city of Nuk near the southern border. Home. With a line drawn straight through it labeled “predicted path of the Strider.” It was a long way off, but the Strider would eventually get there. And no country had been able to stop it before, why should Yeshalo be any different? “A-anyway, Akumen is next in the Strider’s path, I think they’d appreciate notice of a weakness, but we’ll send the message in all directions. A simple radio transmitter should work, but if all else fails we can just leave and have Orville deliver the messages.”

“Question,” Irene said, still wringing her wrists. “Why hasn’t anyone tried this before?”

“Simple,” Amaris said. “Motor Control is excessively guarded, defended by sanctified guards, acids, and mechanical turrets. We’re dead if we charge in guns blazing.”

“So… what’s the plan, then?”

Amaris turned to Coleus, smiling awkwardly. “I’m afraid you’re not going to like this…”

~~~

Coleus stepped off the metal that allowed the citizens of Strider City to walk around without stepping in puddles of unidentifiable and potentially toxic substances. Every fiber in her feet responded with revulsion upon contact with this fleshy section of the ground, but she forced herself to stay. However, she found that it took all her willpower to simply stand there, she couldn’t do anything she needed to do.

“I c-can’t…” she stammered. “Ir-Irene, I need…”

“You sure?” Irene asked.

“Just… just do it… please…”

Irene nodded solemnly, holding out a hand and placing utter happiness upon Coleus. The revulsion abated immediately, and Coleus wondered why her body was making such a fuss about stepping in the bile.

“Thanks!” Coleus said with a cheer. “I think I can get to the root of the problem now!” With a wild grin, she slammed her hands forcefully into the ground, allowing the fatty acids and motor oil to seep around her digits. Her body wanted to scream at the toxins entering her body, but she knew it was nothing life-threatening, not with her abilities. The unpleasant side effects that would come from such contact were nothing. It was just a little pain, and why was that such a bad thing, anyway?

There was so much life within the Strider, it would be a shame not to let it all out.

The fleshy ground around her began to transform into vines, leaves, and occasional fruit. The nature of the Strider forced what she produced to mutate into other forms nearly immediately, but she didn’t care much about what it turned into after she was done—all she needed to do was control it enough so she could move it.

And it obeyed. It wanted to obey. A fleshy tendril grew leaves shaped like hands and actively helped her dig, turning more and more flesh into greenery.

Coleus dug through the flesh much, much faster than anyone had been expecting. The more she went, the larger the vines became, twisting into many shapes that continued to assist her digging further and further down.

“How are you doing this?” Amaris called down the hole.

“I don’t know!” Coleus reported, summoning a flower in the shape of an industrial backhoe at will to remove a hydraulic pump in the way of her digging. “It wants to do everything I ask!”

“I’m not complaining!” Suuk said, jumping down into the hole. “Come on, let’s move! There’s no way nobody feels what we’re doing!”

Jenny stood with Boro at the top of the hole while the others piled in—serving as bodyguards. Jenny lit both of her fists on fire and Boro had a handful of weapons strapped to his legs: including a sword and one of the anti-magic arrows, just in case.

Coleus, meanwhile, kept digging with Amaris, Suuk, and Irene behind her. Coleus noticed that her hands were starting to brown from overexertion. She rather liked the color. She also liked green, but brown was nice too. The color of death was strangely pleasant when looked at in the right light.

The fact that she was aware she was under Irene’s influence did nothing to change her thoughts and feelings. Pain was a new, wonderful experience to her. As her delight continued, she began to feel further and further into the Strider. The flesh she touched and the plant servants she created to assist her told her things. Acid pocket up ahead, divert to the left. Tungsten-crystal alloy wall, impassible, go under. Plant material already existent above, take to restore energy. This chemical has restorative properties.

“Coleus?” Amaris called from behind her. “Are you… okay?”

Coleus turned to Amaris. “Never better!”

“Your eyes… your pupils are tiny.”

“I’m in contact with it…” Coleus said, running her hand across a white section that smelled of rotting fish and alcohol. “It listens to me.”

“Irene… can you dial back th—“

“NO!” Coleus shouted. “I will break in two if you remove this. I need to see the beauty in the Strider, or rejection will occur.” That’s an important conduit to city control, smash it, they’ll feel that one. Coleus ordered a snapdragon with bone-like teeth to destroy the conduit while also digging further into the walls.

“This is wrong…” Amaris said.

“We can’t back out now,” Suuk added. “We’re in too deep to risk changing now.”

“This was my plan, and it’s doing terrible things to Coleus!”

“Don’t worry, Amaris,” Coleus said. “I’m as springy as always!”

“Coleus, you’re high on happy juice right now, you’re assurances don’t mean much.”

Irene wrung her wrists. “Um, again, not juice…”

“We’re almost there anyway,” Coleus said. “Just poke through this wall here…” Since she couldn’t go around the bony plate to get into Motor Control, she just asked for a plant to spew acid and dissolve it for her. The bone crumbled away in seconds, revealing the outer layer of Motor Control—a ring-shaped room with bone on the outer wall and obsidian etched with runes on the inner side.

“Move!” Suuk shouted. “Breach the runes, the node is through there!”

“I’m afraid not, my pretties.” A sphere of darkness passed through the floor like it was air, affixing six yellow eyes on the intruders. “I’ve been expecting you.”

Amaris loaded an anti-magic arrow, and Suuk jumped forward with her blades, but both of them were too slow. Tentacles of darkness erupted from the sphere and entangled all four of them in the time it took Amaris to blink.

“Did you really think you could just waltz in here and sabotage us?” The monstrosity asked, tightening its grip. “You are far from the first self-proclaimed heroes. The plant thing is new, but your attempt is not.” It let out a sickly laugh that sounded like several claws were being dragged across a chalkboard at different speeds.

Coleus smiled innocently at the monster. “Oh, you were expecting us? Here, take my invinetation.” With a wave of her hand a vine erupted from the hole they’d just popped out of, skewering the beast all the way through. With a simple twist of her wrist, Coleus prompted several dozen verdant spikes to erupt from the vine, turning the dark being into a pincushion.

“What power is this?”

Coleus’ response was to order the spikes to spin like a blender, utterly disintegrating the beast in a second.

“C-coleus…” Amaris stammered.

“The enemy has been vinequished!” Coleus declared, pupils so small Amaris almost couldn’t see them. “Come on, let—“

“You’ve done your part,” Amaris said. “Coleus, can you survive being taken off now?”

“May—“

Six more spheres rose out of the ground, and the first thing they did was wrap Coleus in so many shadowy tendrils she couldn’t even move.

“They should not have been powerful enough to take one of us out.”

“There has been a miscalculation.”

“They must be brought to answer.”

Coleus tried to reach out to the Strider’s essence, but the shadow muffled her connection. It was impossible to summon another vine attack. Oh well, looks like I’m going to pass out now. I needed a good sleep anyway.

~~~

Amaris was only aware of darkness. She couldn’t even feel the thick tar of the monster’s tentacles anymore, all sensation was gone. It was only dark.

Jenny’s still out there, she’ll think of something, Amaris thought. A light-punch to the face should take care of these beasts.

The darkness continued being her only company.

I should never have asked Coleus to grow through the ground. I should have known there would be terrible side effects we didn’t predict. And I should have known they would expect our attack...

…Should I have expected them to know? There was no indication we were being watched…

…No, I should have known it was impossible. We’re far from the only people to try this. The Strider has marched on for millennia, who was I to think we could do anything to it? How dumb could I be? Entire armies with doomsday weapons have gone up against this thing, who are we to march in and fix everything?

I’m cursed.

I should have known better.

The darkness receded with a sharp electric shock to her body. She fell out of a black nodule onto a glass platform.

Before anything else, she checked to make sure Pitch was okay—which he was, resting around her neck. The next thing she did was look up, finding Jenny first, rubbing her head.

“Jenny! How did they…?”

“Too fast,” Jenny muttered. “Only got one punch off. Took off half a face, but…”

“Look alive, everyone!” Suuk shouted, daggers drawn.

Irene and Boro stood up. Coleus remained sitting—she wasn’t smiling anymore, and her pupils weren’t tiny. She merely stared blankly at the floor.

“Coleus…” Amaris forced her gaze away from the dryad, turning to their captors. All three of them wore six-eyed masks, but she recognized all three of them instantly: Bellatrix, Ru, and…

“Well well well…” Freddloi said, approaching Amaris with his hands folded behind his back. “Look what we have here.”

Amaris let out a deep growl.

“I’m surprised you’re still alive. This is not a world where one can afford to have an interesting life,” Freddloi mused. “But here you are, clearly having learned absolutely nothing, seeking me out for some petty revenge.” He shrugged, shaking his head from side to side. “Shame, really.”

“I’m gonna knock that dumb look off your face,” Jenny growled.

“Miss Zero, you should know by now that this is a mask, and that every time you’ve tried that it’s backfired.”

Jenny blinked. “What?”

“See, this is the problem with your method of immortality,” Freddloi said, placing a hand on his mask and shaking his head. “You can never learn. You come back every few hundred years to destroy the Strider, and every time we teach you that it’s impossible. I had hoped throwing you into a volcano would have kept you occupied for longer.”

“You ever think there’s a reason I keep coming back to smack you silly?”

“Yes. Idiocy. And an immunity to curses.”

“I’m immune to curses. Good to know.”

Freddloi let out a deep, pained sigh. “She says this every time,” he said no one in particular. “This time we should launch her into the outer darkness in a freeze pod that’ll never come down.”

Bellatrix tilted her head. “That’ll be hard to engineer.”

“I am getting quite sick of her.”

Jenny smirked. “Glad to see I’ve made an impression.”

“You’re a nuisance,” Freddloi muttered. “Though, I will admit, you did manage to do some damage this time.” He pointed at the kneeling form of Coleus. “I had forgotten about juvenile dryads. Had I know that was what she was, you all would have been incinerated while your silly car was being lifted into the city.”

Coleus didn’t look up at him.

“I do wonder how you managed to get any use out of her, the Strider is designed to repel dryads and creatures like them to prevent this sort of thing from ever happening.”

Irene immediately looked away from Freddloi.

“Ah, yes, you. I had you written off as useless, but that appears to not be the case. And you have a large number of complexes… My first instinct is to play off this subconscious self-destructive quest for redemption you’ve put yourself on, but there’s so much to choose from. I’ll have to search long and hard for a suitable punishment for you.”

Boro skittered forward. “Punishment? I demand trial by combat!”

“Violence is so unbecoming,” Freddloi said, leaning in toward Boro. “It is much, much more satisfying to turn someone’s very desires against them.”

Amaris curled her hands into fists. “Is that all it is to you? Satisfaction?”

“Ah, you.” Freddloi turned downward to face Amaris. “...You pose a problem. Bellatrix, Ru, take the others away, I’ll figure out appropriate punishments for them one at a time. Freeze Jenny in liquid nitrogen or something for now, I don’t care.”

“Of course,” Bellatrix said, gesturing for Ru to follow her, rounding up the prisoners.

“Be strong, Amaris!” Suuk called back. “We’ll think of something!”

“Y-yeah…” Amaris stammered, doubting every word of what Suuk just said.

And just like that, Amaris was alone with Freddloi. He said nothing to her, filling the room with silence. Eventually, Amaris allowed herself to look away from him, finding that they were inside a massive glass globe with various images projected on the walls. A large number of them showed videos of Coleus digging through the ground with her plants.

“I like to think you’ve at least learned part of what you should,” Freddloi said. “There is no hope.”

Amaris couldn’t meet his gaze.

“Did you know Motor Control actually has a backup? Destroying it would do nothing, but we make its existence a big public thing to catch people like you. Give them something to hope after, a target, somewhere we can lay traps.” He forcefully grabbed her chin and made her look directly at him. “We let your kind get that far so we can absolutely crush them. People have a habit of being annoyingly hopeful, and even if everyone dies, people get ideas about ‘going just a little bit further’ or ‘taking another approach.’ We’ve found that the best way to deter attempts are to utterly humiliate everyone who tries anything.” Freddloi chuckled. “Killing is actually quite useless when it comes to those with an annoying sense of chivalry.”

Amaris had nothing to say. She refused to sob, but tears still seeped from her eyes.

“It’s quite boring, really.” He released her and turned to the various images floating across the screen. “The Strider is a grand mission with a deep purpose, don’t get me wrong, but simple destruction has no poetry to it. I much prefer to be out there, doing what I do best.”

“Handing out curses for no reason?”

“No reason?” He shrugged. “Amaris, my dear, there’s every reason to do so. People are continually deluded as they walk through their life; believing the lie that they’ve got everything together and that they know what they want. Every single person, without fail, has a lie in the core of their being.”

“You think you’re helping!?”

“You are such a foolish little child…” Freddloi shook his head. Then, with alarming violence, he grabbed Amaris by the neck and lifted her off the ground. “I do it because they deserve it. Not a soul in this rotten universe deserves anything less than a cursed existence.”

Amaris flipped her weight forward and kicked Freddloi in the mask, jumping out of his grip. The mask did not come off his face, but he was clearly startled by her agility.

“You have changed…” Freddloi said, nodding slowly.

“And you’re insane,” Amaris breathed, rubbing her neck. “Don’t you deserve a curse too?”

“Absolutely!” Freddloi said. “I am a rotten, despicable, deceptive, horrendous excuse for a living entity.” He held his arms wide. “The only difference between me and the rest of you is that I don’t try to deny what’s been there the entire time. I revel in it. Existence is pain, life is torture. I am the instrument by which it reveals itself.”

“I see… several problems with the logical structure of your philosophy.”

Freddloi stopped suddenly, tilting his head. “What?”

“I mean…” Amaris folded her arms behind her back. “Think about it, everyone deserves pain, life is torture, yada yada… but you let yourself enjoy things. Why would you deserve happiness? And if you agree you don’t, why are you so set on destroying the happiness of others because they don’t deserve it? Why do you care about truth so much, why does it matter? Wh—“ Amaris stopped in the middle of her question and plunged an anti-magic arrow right into Freddloi’s chest.

A burst of darkness mixed with a yellow hexagonal aura erupted from his chest, pushing Amaris back and shattering the arrow.

Freddloi chuckled. “My, my, you are a clever one. Talking real philosophy while plotting my downfall?”

Amaris stood up. “It was worth a shot…”

“I am sorry to disappoint your need for a coherent philosophy. Coherence is just another of the lies.”

“And now you’re speaking nonsense.”

“Perhaps to you, but what do you know?” Freddloi shrugged. “You don’t even understand what it means to be interesting.”

“How do you know?”

“You haven’t laid down and died from the realization.” Freddloi waved his hand dismissively.

“I’ve realized that it puts me in places where I can help people. It lets me stop horrible things from happening.” Amaris gripped the straps on her backpack. “It makes me suffer, but it puts me in places where I can make a difference.”

“Your optimism is unfounded. Make a difference? A little here, a little there. But the world is so vast and complex that your efforts mean nothing. Don’t you see? If you can find a horrendous murdering monster in every town you wander through, how many do you think there are worldwide?” He approached her, ramming his face closer and closer to his own. “How many murderous entities are just waiting beneath the surface, ready to unleash suffering? You find one or two, there could be dozens more in every corner of the world. You, make a difference? To a few people. But what you really need to see is how full the world is of suffering! Suffering you can do nothing about! People whose lives are interesting and surrounded by death!”

Amaris was no longer crying. “Every good deed is worthwhile, no matter how small.”

Freddloi grabbed the triangle necklace from around Amaris’ neck and ripped it off. “Abandon all that nonsense!”

“I refuse. You might kill us, the Strider might destroy thousands more cities, and there might be a Predateor in every single forest! I don’t care! Goodness is real! You’re the one who’s living a lie, Freddloi!”

Freddloi said nothing.

“What’s the matter?” Amaris put her hands on her hips. “Upset that your curse didn’t make a girl hopeless?”

“Yes, actually,” Freddloi said.

“Wow, that’s kind of sad.” Amaris tapped the side of her head. “There are better things to hold a grudge over. I’m just a random kid.”

“What you say may be true… but you’re here, right now, and brats like you should be taught a lesson.” He pulled a green orb out of his pocket, tapping it with three fingers. “Activate the teleportation addon.” He turned to Amaris. “Take us directly to Nuk.”

Amaris’ smile vanished in an instant. “N-no, you don’t have t—“

“They would have had time to prepare had you simply behaved,” Freddloi snapped. “But you didn’t learn. And since I can’t punish you with another curse, this is your punishment.”

Everything outside the glass globe was engulfed in a blinding yellow light that forced Amaris to shield her eyes. When she opened them again, she couldn’t help but cry out.

There, at the edge of the horizon, was Mount Aun. Its dual-horned tip was unmistakable.

This was the mountain whose shadow she’d grown up in. The city of Nuk was situated at its foothills.

“I’ll have to talk to them about the accuracy of that addon,” Freddloi said, tapping his chin. “Ah well, we don’t use it enough to guarantee its effectiveness. Hey, Amaris, this means you have a few hours before your home is devoured!” He grabbed her by the wrist. “That should give you hope, right? Surely something will happen to save everything. That’s would be interesting, right?”

Amaris wrenched her wrist out of his grasp.

“Or perhaps it would be more interesting for a girl to suffer the trauma of being directly responsible for the deaths of everyone she has ever known.”

“I’m not doing this! You are!”

“Ah, but I don’t care! You do.” He clasped his hands together. “And had you not interfered, we would not be here, now.”

Amaris fell to her knees. “Please, Freddloi, I—“

“Begging. A good sign, but pointless. If I show mercy, you don’t learn your lesson.” He leaned in until his mask was less than an inch from her face. “You will learn, as I have, the true meaning of this world. Or you will die and rid the world of another despicable, worthless soul.” He patted her patronizingly on the head.

Amaris tried to bite his hand. He reeled back and slapped her in return. “I know what you need.” He waved his hand, bringing up an image of a city on the glass. She recognized the red clock tower, the local Sanctuary, and the big balloon shaped like a cat’s head that marked city hall.

That was home, all right.

I should have known better.

What was I THINKING!?

She gave way to sobs, heaving so hard that she had to use a hand just to keep herself from smacking her head into the ground. She punched the glass a few times, knowing her fist could do nothing, sheering off some skin with the force. She didn’t care.

There was too much to care about. Too much, too—

Orville waved to her, even though her eyes were closed, she saw him. He winked at her.

Amaris froze.

“Is that it?” Freddloi asked. “I was hoping for more of a breakdown. Disappointing.”

Amaris refused to move. Don’t. Move. A muscle. Don’t give him any indication that you saw anything. You are frozen in fear. You are not hopeful.

~~~

Orville wasn’t sure exactly what had happened up there, but the barrier keeping him from entering Strider City was gone, so he phased right through. It just so happened that he was on Suuk’s mindstream, so he followed her first, finding her in a cell with everyone except Amaris and Jenny.

He switched to Irene, who was currently crying and scratching a wall. “It went wrong?”

“Yes it went wr— Orville!?” Irene shouted. “H-how did y—“

“I did,” Coleus said, weakly. “It was one of the conduits I broke because the Strider told me what it did.”

“Guys, the guards heard that!” Suuk hissed.

Orville quickly jumped to the two guards, scrambling their short-term memory, returning to Irene. “Not anymore.”

“He scrambled our… friends,” Irene said, trying to be careful with her words.

Suuk lowered her voice to a whisper. “Orville, get to me.”

Orville jumped to her. “Yes?”

“We need a way to take out this Strider. Freddloi let slip that the entire thing is designed to keep Coleus out. She’s the key. You need to get her to… I don’t know, the Strider’s brain or something.”

“How am I going to do that?” Orville whispered—realizing afterward that he didn’t have to, as he was only in Suuk’s memory.

“The yellow teleporter beams can be used to move us, probably. Also, the girl who brought us here, Bellatrix, the one in the tiny mantis armor. If you can enter her memory, you might be able to find something quickly. But she has a mask like Freddloi, so you might not be able to…”

“I’ll try.”

“Be fast. I don’t know what he’s doing to Amaris.”

Orville jumped to Amaris via memory rewind, finding her in a crying heap in the present. I can’t just leave her like this… but I need to be fast. He placed the memory of him winking into her, then he jumped back again, finding Bellatrix.

She was talking to the large, headless being that he quickly learned was called Ru from Bellatrix’s comments. Orville tried to stay out of her sight in the memory so he could hear everything said.

In this memory, Ru was holding an unconscious Jenny while they walked down a fleshy hall, Bellatrix doing all the talking.

“How did she find out, you think?” Bellatrix asked. “About the dryad, I mean.”

Ru offered no response.

“I mean, we were only told recently... how did they do it? You saw them with those cats, they were bumbling idiots!”

Told recently, have to find that memory. Orville went back, seeking memories that were particularly clear and distinctive. There they were fighting Amaris and Jenny only to get lectured afterward…

Further back, further back…

“As you have now been indoctrinated into the inner circle, you must know some things,” Freddloi said to Bellatrix and Ru. “Come, we will journey to th—“

“Who is that!?” Bellatrix asked, pointing at Orville. She raised her weapon.

Crud, jump a little forward…

“Behold, the origin,” Freddloi said, gesturing at six runic pillars in a room that seemed to have no entrances or exits. “Everything runs through here. See, in the early times, the dryads and their cleansing nature were a blight to our Master’s ways. So She turned their most precious of Glens into the Strider. For as much as I disdain the basic destruction in the Strider’s day-to-day operations, I have to admit, the transformation of a place of healing into this beauty… it makes me think my curses are but little motes in the expanse.”

“Why doesn’t She do these kinds of things anymore?”

“Oh, She does, little one. Just n—“

“Intruder!” Ru said, pointing at Orville.

Orville jumped back. Right, okay, so, that room is the goal. And it is… he performed a bunch of microjumps through Bellatrix’s memory until he was certain he knew where it was in relation to the rest of the Strider.

He backtracked to the others, appearing to Coleus. “I know what to do. Coleus, the entire Strider is a Glen.”

Coleus’ eyes widened. “No…”

“It’s true. And I think you can do something to it if I can get you to a room they don’t want anyone to know exists. I might teleport you there at a moment’s notice, be ready.”

Coleus quickly relayed the plan to the others; whispering, of course.

Irene held out a hand. “Do you want me to…?”

Coleus shook her head. “No… no, if it really is a Glen, I need to do this as myself if it’s to be done rightly.”

Suuk nodded. “If you say so. Orville… I don’t know how you’re going to get someone to teleport anyone from a memory, but I know you can do it.”

Orville nodded. It took him almost no time at all to find a teleportation hub and observe how everyone was teleported to and from distant locations, or how the Strider itself had been teleported. It was all done through a cubicle console made out of a yellow, glassy material where a low-level employee touched buttons routing people to locations and coordinates.

The hard part was going to be getting precise coordinates for Coleus and the special room…

The easy part was getting the low-level employee to push buttons. They did their task so mindlessly that manipulating their short-term memory to get them to touch anything was pathetically simple. This latter ease assisted with the former since every teleportation employee has access to a coordinate calculating app.

He was rather disturbed to find that the app had suggested locations to dump people who needed to be killed and where to send people who didn’t pay the service so they could be beat up, extorted, and experimented upon. Clearly, teleporting was only for the higher-ups in society, whoever they might be.

It was also disturbing that the app pointed out that teleport-proof shielding was down across the city so employees were encouraged to charge extra to teleport into those usually off-limits areas. However, this malpractice worked directly in Orville’s favor. Puppeting the mindless worker, he led them to lock onto Coleus’ location, as the cell they were in was on the app.

The destination, however, was not.

Luckily the service was totally okay with materializing people inside solid rock as an execution method. So long as his instinct was right…

He decided he better test it first. He needed to teleport someone with a memory he could access… but he didn’t want to chance killing someone by accident.

Wait…

He danced through memories to Jenny, whose short-term memories were nothing more than a delirium not all that unlike a dream. Backing up and jumping to Bellatrix, he was able to watch Jenny be thrown into a vat of liquid nitrogen. This he could use to get coordinates.

Monkeying through the web of memories once more, he returned to another mindless worker and plugged in the coordinates for Jenny and for what he hoped was the secret room. The teleportation went through. Rushing—he was starting to feel exhausted, he’d never jumped through so many memories in so short of a time before—he returned to Jenny’s short-term memory.

Slowly, the liquid nitrogen dissipated and Jenny’s healing restored her. Half of her body had to regrow since the other half had materialized in the ceiling, but she had made it into the secret room.

“Good, Coleus will be here soon. Don’t worry!”

“…I understand nothing about what just happened,” Jenny deadpanned. “But okay!”

He returned to the teleporters and input Coleus’ coordinates and the previous coordinates he had, adjusted by about a meter. He altered memories and had the worker push a button, completing the teleport.

Then he was forcefully ejected from the worker’s memory stream. Since he was in another worker’s memory, that meant the Strider’s shields hadn’t come back on. So that meant the worker had died? But from what?

Then he saw Bellatrix charge into the current worker’s cubicle, weapon raised… and he was ejected to another memory.

She’s killing every memory I use. …Monster of a child… I’m lucky I already got everything done.

He returned to Coleus, who was standing next to Jenny in the midst of the runes. Coleus eyes were glowing a brilliant green.

“Glen… find your brethren!” Coleus ordered, massive leaves and vines spreading out from where she was currently standing. “Restore your link to the endless forest!” She pressed her hands together. “Elders, hear my call.”

Everything went green.

~~~

Every image in the glass globe was suddenly replaced with a singular warning message.

Freddloi dropped his hands to his sides. “What?”

Amaris let out a short chuckle. “My guess… is that a certain man cursed to never be forgotten has made sure he never will be.”

The various images soon showed a massive forest springing up out of the center of the Strider, surrounding buildings, technology, everything with its verdant essence.

“How did they…? How did they!?”

Amaris shrugged. “No idea, but I do know they needed Coleus for that, and you kept her alive because you wanted to have some ‘fun’ and ‘teach her a lesson.’ I bet you’re kicking yourself right now.”

Pitch let out a hiss of agreement.

Freddloi curled his hands into fists. “It looks like you win, Amaris.”

“Thank you.”

“My curses and lessons are a weakness.” He turned to her, both hands suddenly holding knives. “The Master knew more than I ever realized when She designed this place.” He violently kicked the triangle necklace back to Amaris. “I’ve not been devoted enough.”

He charged, angling both knives at her. Amaris did a backflip with her backpack still on, catching one of the knives with the pack’s bulk while using one of her arms to chop Freddloi’s wrist, making him drop the other knife. She landed with a swirl, removing the backpack in one motion, using it as a club to smack Freddloi across the face.

His mask went flying clean off and he was knocked back.

“There is hope,” Amaris said, gesturing at the plants on the glass. “There is always hope. You should try it.”

“You are infuriating…” Freddloi grumbled from his lump on the ground.

“Despite what you wanted to teach me, I learned a much greater lesson. If you offered to remove this curse from me… I would not take it. Had you not cursed me, had all of this not happened, the Strider would still be marching across the land. It would have been impossible without all the interesting things I faced.” She grinned, standing proudly above Freddloi. “All things work together for good, in the end. And this, all this? This is my purpose. I’m going to forge on with this ‘curse’ and use it to root out monsters, make connections with interesting people, and devote my life toward ending the darkness you and people like you perpetuate!” She picked up the triangle necklace with her foot and pocketed it. “Freddloi, my life is interesting. Do you understand what that means?”

Freddloi jumped up, revealing his face for the first time. There was no flesh and bone there, only sackcloth and straw with a face drawn on with black marker. The shriek he released was like a thousand dying vultures calling out one last time.

Amaris was unfazed. “That is a very dumb face, I can see why you keep it hidden.”

Freddloi snapped his fingers. There was a burst of darkness that hit Amaris right in the chest. She immediately felt several of her ribs break and gashes form all over her torso. She was thrown back so hard that she cracked the glass on the ground. She had no idea if she’d broken anything else in her body because everything was pain, and given how red the glass was getting, broken bones were probably the least of her worries.

“You dare lecture me on my curses? Foolish child! I have served the Master since before your great grandparents were born, I have gifts from her that go beyond anything crystals, biology, or cubes can bestow! The shards bow to my very wishes!”

“Heh…” Amaris entered a coughing fit. “Bragging about power… you must be really mad…”

Freddloi did it again; tossing Amaris even further back with a burst of power. She had no idea how much broke this time, and quite frankly, she didn’t care. Maybe he was right about one thing—the curse was designed to end her, she’d just been lucky to get this far. But the mission was completed, she didn’t need to do anything else.

He could do his worst.

He’d already lost.

With a mad roar, he tossed her back again—this time slamming her into the back of the globe itself, cracking the entire thing. She wanted to barf, but couldn’t because it hurt so much. This amused her.

“Why aren’t you dead!?” Freddloi shrieked at the top of his lungs.

A lightbulb went off in Amaris’ head.

“Death…” she coughed up blood. “...Isn’t very interesting… is it?”

Despite having no real face, Amaris could see Freddloi deflate. “N-no… I… that’s not…”

“KYAAAAA!”

Jenny came flying through the glass ball with a fist burning with fire so hot it was a brilliant blue. It impacted Freddloi in his little sackcloth face with enough force to trigger an explosion in addition to lighting him on fire.

“Who’s the gnat now!?” Jenny asked, landing in front of him.

“Y-bu-gh…”

A flower appeared next to Amaris, unfolding to reveal Coleus. She ran to her friend, treating the outrageous wounds with her magic. “Oh, Amaris…”

Amaris grinned despite herself. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. The curse… won’t allow it.”

“S-sure, just stay with me here…”

Jenny unleashed a lightning punch into Freddloi’s gut, sending straw out the back. “Are you a scarecrow!?”

“I… egh…” Freddloi unleashed a dark explosion on Jenny, tossing her back and shredding her flesh. Naturally, she didn’t care, and was back on her feet punching Freddloi into the ground.

He didn’t move after that.

Amaris couldn’t help but feel a little sad. He’d been so lost and confused, in a world where he believed hope wasn’t worth anything.

…He was in a better place now, at least. He wouldn’t hurt anyone anymore.

Pitch slithered up Amaris, getting red all over his scales.

“Oh, Pitch… you’re okay.” Amaris lifted a shaky finger to pet his head. “I’m glad…”

He coiled himself around her arm, and she held him close to her chest. With a pleasant smile on her face, she closed her eyes and lost consciousness.

~~~

Amaris woke up in a toadstool-shaped bed situated just outside a ring of six pillars with glowing runes. She couldn’t see the sky, but she could see a leafy and flowery ceiling with only the occasional mechanical bit or crystal poking out of it.

“There really was a Glen…” Amaris muttered to herself.

“The entire Strider was a Glen,” Coleus said, walking up to Amaris. “I just… reconnected it to the rest of the Glens. The dryads came and did the rest.”

Amaris felt pain all over but didn’t feel like she was in danger of bleeding out. She forced herself to sit up, wincing as she did so. The action woke up Pitch, who started licking her cheek. “…How mad were they?”

“The dryads? They aren’t sure if they should call me a heretical renegade or a hero.” Coleus rubbed the back of her head. “So, uh, not exactly mad. The people of Strider City are very mad, but the protective barrier is up so they can’t exactly do anything. You should see the Strider from outside, it’s just one big massive flower now. With six stalks. And mechanical bits hanging out of it. But still, flower.”

“Looks like you got your industrial plant.”

“Yeah, looks like I did.” Coleus put her hands on her hips and beamed. “I guess you could say I… grew my dreams into reality!”

Amaris laughed—it hurt, but she didn’t even try to stop herself. The sunny feeling was much more important than a little pain. Eventually, her laughs abated, and she turned to Coleus. “Where are the others?”

“Waiting behind a rock,” Suuk said, jumping on top of a rock and flicking her tail. “Not wanting to overload you with everyone at once.”

Amaris gave her a smile. “You guys can come out.”

At which point Irene, Jenny, Suuk, and Boro all rushed out, the former three all rushing her into a hug. Orville stood to the side, tipping his hat in Amaris’ direction.

Amaris pushed through the soreness and pulled them all into a hug. “We did it, everyone!”

“Yeah… we did it,” Irene said. “All of us…”

“Yeah, it was great!” Boro declared.

“You did almost nothing,” Jenny said.

“Psh, that you saw.”

“We really did it together,” Amaris insisted. “There was a reason I ran into you all and became close friends. This… well I don’t know if this was the reason but it was at least one of them! We… we won. All because of a ‘curse.’ “

“You look like you’re almost happy about it,” Coleus said.

“I am,” Amaris said. “Terrible things happened to me, and to everyone around me. But it was all for a reason. This ‘curse’ is a gift. Maybe not a gift to me, but a gift to everyone else. I can be there, I can find the horrible things in the world. And I’m going to.”

Coleus blinked. “I thought you were going home?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m doing that first. I guess… I just know what I’m going to do with my life, now.” Amaris beamed. “What are the rest of you going to do?”

“I’m staying here, in this Glen,” Coleus said. “I really have missed them, and I have a… special connection to this one, now.”

“She’ll be taking me back to Genk,” Suuk said. “Now that you’ve found your home, I’m going back to mine.”

Amaris nodded. “I’ll see if I can make it to the wedding.”

Coleus tilted her hand from side to side. “Still don’t know if they’ll put up with me taking you or not.”

“I’m going back to the Old Bones!” Boro said. “To tell them of all my exploits!”

“I’ll explore the world through memories,” Orville said. “I’ll be sure to drop by, of course.”

Amaris looked up to Irene and Jenny. “…And you two?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Jenny put her hands on her hips. “We’re sticking with you, one way or another. I promised, remember?”

“Yes,” Irene nodded in agreement. “I… understand you wish to return to your parents, but I…”

“You can stick around if that’s what you want,” Amaris said. “But, Irene… are you sure?”

“W-well I don’t really have anywhere to go, I might as well settle down around here…” She tapped her fingers together anxiously.

Amaris pulled her into a hug specifically. “I… I know you haven’t been around as long as some of the others, or been through as much, but... I’m glad you’re staying.”

“O-oh.” With a genuine smile, Irene held her close, running her hand through her hair. “I… I still don’t know what I’m doing.”

“You know, my parents might be able to help you. They’re great people.” Amaris blinked a few times. “And we should go see them.”

“You’re not fully healed yet,” Coleus said, placing a hand on Amaris’ shoulder. “Wait a day or two for the magic to work its way into you. You’ve been gone this long, you can wait a little longer so you don’t overexcite yourself and bleed out through a reopened wound. That wouldn’t be very green of you.”

Amaris looked to Coleus, blank. Then she let out a soft sigh. “You’re right… but the moment I’m better, I’m there. Got it?”

“Got it!”

~~~

Irene drove the rental car.

As they drifted down the suburban lanes, Amaris looked out over the houses. The skyline was exactly as she remembered it: mountains, trees, and a few tall buildings. The only difference was the giant six-legged flower at the horizon. The Strider looked almost… beautiful, this far away, and not just because the city on top was hidden by a massive red pinecone-like flower head.

I brought the weirdness with me… Amaris smiled. It might help, in the end. People will be forced to confront some things, accept that there are really things like ghosts, monsters, and real evil.

She lowered her eyes to the simple suburban houses. The people consisted of humans, cats, and the occasional neko—nothing else. Some of the people in Strider City were going to cause a lot of waves if they moved down here, and not just because they were originally from a murderous tower.

Amaris had no doubt that she would be caught in the midst of that inevitable conflict, but she had hope that it would work out well in the end.

Her gift probably wouldn’t let it be any other way.

“This it?” Irene asked, gesturing at an orange house up at the end of the cul-de-sac.

“Yep, that’s it,” Amaris said, leaning forward in her chair. “Just pull over here, sidewalk real estate is at a premium in the cul-de-sac.”

Irene did as instructed, pulling over. Amaris, Irene, and Jenny stepped out. Amaris hefted up her backpack, lifted her chin up high, and approached her home. They crossed the cul-de-sac, shoes sending echoing clacks throughout the suburb. Somewhere, a lawnmower was running.

Amaris gestured for the others to wait at the base of the step as she climbed up to the front door. It was almost exactly as she remembered it: a perfectly normal white door with square bevels in it. There were a few new nicks and scratches here and there, but otherwise, it was just a door.

She’d never been so happy to see a door in her life.

Unable to stifle a giggle, she pressed the doorbell, decorated with a mathematical spiral. The ding, dong of the doorbell struck its chords in a pattern based on the golden ratio.

Yep, this is home all right. She absent-mindedly tugged at the tattered remains of her original shirt and put on a smile.

The door opened, revealing a tired, female figure with rimmed glasses and messed up hair. “Y-yes?”

“…Hi Mom.”

Her mother’s eyes shot open. “A-A-Amaris!?”

“Yeah. It’s me.” She lifted up her hand, allowing Pitch to slither up it. “Pitch too.”

“Amaris!?” Her father all but tore the door off its hinges to see her. “Oh, Amaris!” He tried to pick her up in a hug and spin her around, but he only got her an inch off the ground before stumbling back.

Amaris chuckled. “I… I think I’m a little big for that, now.”

“H-how?” her mother asked.

“That’s… a long story.” Amaris looked back to Jenny and Irene. “This is Jenny and Irene. They’ll… help me tell it when it’s time. But, for now… can… can I just have dinner? With… both of you?”

“Of course, of course!” her father said, wiping tears from his eyes. “We… didn’t cook for three, but we can make it work.”

“I can cook something up.”

“Since when do you know how to cook?”

“Since now.” Amaris put her hands on her hips and cocked her head playfully.

“Oh,” her mother looked out at Jenny and Iris. “You two are welcome as well…”

Irene shook her head, adjusting her hat in the process. “Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin, I… think she wants some time with you two. We’ll come in… when the time is right. Don’t rush your dinner.”

“…Right.” Amaris’ mother fixed Irene with a knowing gaze. “Thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”

Amaris entered her house, closing the front door on Jenny and Irene.

Jenny kicked a rock. “And now we wait.”

“The story is going to need some corroboration,” Irene admitted. “Even with the Strider in the sky… it is a bit much to believe.”

“Especially in a place like this.” Jenny held her hands out wide. “I don’t think there are any mages here at all, or fantastical races. The most interesting thing I saw on the way over here was a neko with two tails.”

Irene pulled her hair behind her ears. “Besides Amaris, you mean.”

“Yeah, besides Amar—“ Jenny paused. “I just heard something in that bush.”

“You wh—“

Jenny jumped into the bush, punching with a concussive blast that threw out a wolf-gremlin creature with a sack on his back. “Hey, back off missy!”

Jenny held out a hand. “What’s in the sack, buster?”

“Nothing of your conc—“

Irene waved her hand over the wolf-gremlin, prompting him to smile widely. “What’s in the sack?” Irene asked.

“Oh, just a bunch of kids I stol—“

Jenny punched him right in the muzzle, knocking him out. At this point, the sack opened and three children no older than six popped out and ran to different corners of the suburb.

Jenny scratched the back of her head. “…Looks like Amaris’ curse i—“

“Amaris’ gift,” Irene corrected.

“Er, yeah, right. Her gift. It’s still active.”

Irene rubbed her hand up and down her arm, saying nothing.

“Good thing she has a defender,” Jenny said, picking up the wolf-gremlin. “You hear that? Anybody who wants to mess with Amaris has to go through me!”

“…Jenny, he’s out cold.”

Jenny nodded as though this were a piece of premium wisdom. “Let’s lock him in the trunk, we’ll get back to him after we help Amaris with her story.”

With a shrug, Irene opened the trunk. They threw the wolf-gremlin in, locked it, and went back to waiting for Amaris to finish dinner with her family.

They could hear delighted laughter coming from inside the house.

Amaris was home.

Life would never be boring again, that much was true. But that, in and of itself, was neither a good or bad thing. Be it terrific or terrifying, Amaris would be in the center of it.

Fate is a tricky mistress that refuses to be tamed, but her winds all lead somewhere. To the highest mountain, the deepest trench, or even right back home again.